- 


^S^^A^^k  . 

Jill   l|g 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE 


WAYS  OF  WOMEN 


IN    THEIR 


PHYSICAL,  MORAL 


AND 


INTELLECTUAL  RELATIONS, 


BY  A  MEDICAL  MAN. 


NEW    YORK: 

JOHN  P.  JEWETT  &  Co.,  PUBLISHERS, 

No.  5   DEY   STREET. 
1873. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1873,  by 

JOHN  P.  JEWETT, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


LANGS,  LITTLK  &  HILLMAN, 

PRINTERS,  ELECTROTYPERS  AND  STEREOTYPER8, 

108  TO  114  WooeTKR  STREET,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE. 


A  LEADING  object  of  this  volume  is  to  explain,  in  a  familiar 
manner,  how  women  may  improve  their  condition  by  conform- 
ing to  the  laws  of  health. 

Next,  to  point  out  the  way  by  which,  in  this  active  age 
of  Christian  civilization,  they  may  be  qualified  for  sustaining 
themselves  honorably  and  successfully  in  various  new  relations 
to  society. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB. 

.Women — Their  Influence,  Magnetism,  Inborn  Intuitions,  and  Power  in 

every  Age  and  Country 11 

CHAPTER  II. 

'Generalizations — References  in  Construction  to  Specific  Purposes — Rudi- 
mentary Organs — Constant  Evidences  of  Design — Organic  Life  and 
Multiform  Objects  of  Interest  in  the  Investigation  of  Laws  Regulat- 
ing Existence 17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Laws  of  Adaptation — Reference  to  Lactation — Pelvic  Carpentry  —  Ex- 
posures to  Weather — Being  too  Delicate — Progress  of  Sentimen- 
tality   24 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Social  Status  of  Women. . .  26 


CHAPTER  V. 

Exterior  of  the  Sexes 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Imperfect  Development  of  Women 41 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Dress  of  Women 54 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Exercise  of  Women 69 


M363083 


g  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

PAGE. 

Nervous  System  of  Women — Different  Nerves — Their  Functions  Ana- 
tomically alike  in  both  Sexes— Old  Age— Children  Nursed  by  Men- 
Arrest  of  Pulmonary  Consumption  by  Lactation — Too  much  Restraint 
—Exercise  Essential 83 

CHAPTER  X. 

'Amusements  of  Women — Young  Animals  in  Sports — Blind  Buffaloes — 
Reptiles— Brain  Volume — Mechanical  Ingenuity — Conversation  with 
Children — Theoretical  Schemes  of  Female  Education — Dancing — 
Entertaining  Distinguished  Guests — Theatres — Always  have  Existed 
— Labor — Children  Over- worked — Philanthropic  Efforts — Play-time 
a  Sanitary  Measure — Why  Sleep  is  Necessary 100 

CHAPTER  XL 

Their  Mode  of  Living — Pickles — Dentists  Benefited  —  Mountaineers — 
Digestion — Sugar-eating — Character  of  Food — Food  of  Animals — 
Camels— Artificial  Teeth — Must  Vary  Pursuits — Rural  Diseases — 
Neuralgic  Pains — Sallow  Complexions 114 

CHAPTER  XII. 

How  they  should  Sleep — Sleep  of  Insects — Somnambulism— Glandular 
System — Repair — Transfer  of  Vitality — Marriage  of  Aged  Persons 
— Females  in  Factories 133 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Food  of  Women — Dietetics  of  the  World — Everything  Eaten — Habits — 
Sugar  a  Necessity — Economy  of  the  Liver — Pork — By  whom  Avoided 
— Starch — Experiment  with  Honey  Bees — Law  of  Life  Illustrated 
— Fruits  for  Children — Open-Air  Exercise  for  Girls — A  Benevolent 
Citizen  of  Boston— Fish  Food 155 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Internal  Structure— Chest — Compression  of  Blood  Vessels  in  Women — 
Healthy  Children — Anger— Heart — Irritability— Origin  of  its  Power 
— Sudden  Death — Be  Moderate — Dropsical  Effusions 1 ',  ? 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Over- working  the  Heart 184 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Their  Lungs .194 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Their  Digestion 212 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 
Their  Growth 232 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

Their  Eyes 240 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Their  Teeth 255 

% 

CHAPTER  XXL 

Their  Hair  —  How  Abused  —  Desquamations  —  Depilation  —  Excessive 
Growth  of — Baldness — Covering  the  Head — Luxuriant  Hair — Hair 
Dyes — Objections  to—Effects  of  Lead — Sulphur 269 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Their  Feet — How  Inj  ured— Origin  of  Corns  and  Bunions — Tight  Shoes — 
Enlarged  Joints — Rubber  Shoes— High  Heels— Remedies  for  Pedal 
Deformities 284 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Their  Physical  Necessities 296 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER  XXIV, 

Minor  Sources  of  Annoyance — Pride — Mutilations — Ligation  of  Limbs — 
Freckles— Epidermis — Moth  Patches  —  Nostrums  —  Grass  Diet — 
Topical  Applications — Red  Noses — Astringents — Smelling-Bottles— 
Stimulants — Appearing  to  Advantage 302 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Their  Peculiar  Organization 311 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Their  Maladies — Pleasure  and  Pain — Wheat-Growing  Regions — Change 
of  Location — Town  Residence — Transplantation  of  Humanity — 
Travelling  for  Health — Contest  between  Life  and  Death— Peritoneal 
Inflammation— Pleural  Adhesions— Stays — Female  Clothing — Un- 
covered Arms  and  Chest — Progress  of  Refinement 314 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Their  Powers  of  Endurance — What  they  can  do — In  Science — Being  Mis- 
•  placed — In  Offices — Out-Door  Employment — Capacity — Iceberg  Sym- 
pathy— Children  of  Indigent  Parentage — Varying  Temperatures — 
Development  of  Strength 332 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Brain  Force — Mental  Differences — Genius — Molecules  of  Matter — Dupli- 
cation of  Organs — All  Brains  appear  alike— A  Divine  Mystery — 
Male  and  Female  Brains — No  Anatomical  Difference 342 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Over-working  the  Brain 348 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Their  Complexion  —  Physical  Bearing — Cosmetics  —  Eruptions — Pearl 
Powder— Water  as  a  Purifier— Pores  of  the  Skin— Insensible  Per- 
spiration— Tint  of — Antimony 354 


CONTENTS.  \) 

TAGE. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Female  Education  366 

CHAPTER  XXXIL 

Acquiring  Languages — Capacity  for  Certain  Pursuits — Waste  of  Life — 
A  One-Tongued  People — How  to  Proceed — Dogs  learn  the  Meaning 
of  Words — Carious  Relation  of  Facts — Telegraphy 381 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Women  in  Professions — Not  Good  Public  Speakers — A  Reason— Pro- 
fessors in  Colleges — Female  Physicians  a  Success — Admirable  Artists 
— Approved  Teachers — Should  be  Encouraged  and  Sustained 402 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Marriage , 412 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Their  Dangers  in  Marriage 431 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Divorces 449 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

The  Longevity  of  Women 457 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Their  Future  in  the  United  States. .  .  473 


THE  "WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Their  Influence,  Magnetism,  Inborn  Intuitions,  and  Power  in  every  Age  and 

Country. 

SINCE  the  creation  of  Eve,  women  have  been  objects  of 
peculiar  interest  wherever  seen.  They  are  conscious  of  possess- 
ing a  controlling  influence  over  men,  whatever  their  social 
position,  and  they  wield  it  according  to  circumstances.  They 
assume  a  general  attitude  of  defence,  as  though  recognizing  the 
fact  of  being  physically  weak,  while  exercising  a  mysterious 
strength  which  no  man  has  the  energy  to  resist.  Whatever 
her  condition,  from  a  pampered  lady  of  the  court  to  a  menial 
servant  of  the  kitchen,  every  woman  demonstrates  in  her  inter- 
course with  the  world  the  truth  of  the  foregoing  proposition. 
Her  attractions  or  exhibitions  of  contempt  are  acts  of  volition. 
Both  may  be  exerted  either  for  good  or  for  evil,  according  to 
her  own  individual  determination. 

There  are  peculiar  inborn  properties  of  the  sex  which 
education  modifies  but  cannot  extinguish.  Beauty,  elegance 
of  form,  and  grace  of  manners  are  powerful  auxiliary  forces 
when  exercised  for  the  accomplishment  of  ambitious  designs. 
There  is  neither  spirit  nor  persistency  enough  in  the  whole 
range  of  masculine  humanity,  with  but  a  few  rare  exceptions, 


12  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

to  withstand  the  artillery  of  a  magnificent  woman's  charms, 
when  sent  forth  in  all  their  potency  with  a  view  to  conquest. 

Kings,  princes,  statesmen,  theologians,  and  those  of  grave 
and  solemn  deportment,  are  alike  impressible  when  subjected 
to  those  mysterious  influences  which  are  the  glory  and  the 
shame  of  womanhood.  Science  sheds  no  light  on  this  subject, 
since  it  has  not  yet  been  explained  how  female  organization  is 
endowed  with  such  superior  force. 

In  the  functions  of  organs  essential  to  nutrition,  and  in  the 
form  and  offices  of  the  apparatus  of  the  special  senses,  there  is 
no  apparent  difference,  and  yet  men  and  women  differ  in  their 
natures.  Neither  one  is  a  perfect  being.  They  are  complete 
halves.  The  two  constitute  one  perfect  whole. 


THE  FRAME  OF  WOMAN. 

There  are  about  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  bones  in  a 
human  skeleton.  More  are  often  found,  but  fewer  than  two 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  could  not  be  dispensed  with,  and  the 
individual  not  be  noticeable  as  organically  defective. 

When  extra  bones  appear,  they  are  usually  under  the  balls 
of  the  great  toes.  From  their  resemblance  to  sesamum  seeds, 
they  are  called  sesarnoids. 

The  production  of  those  split-pea  shaped  bones  may  happen 
at  any  period  of  life  about  the  articulations  of  the  thumbs, 
fingers,  or  toes,  to  meet  certain  contingencies  to  which  they 
may  have  been  exposed.  Their  development  under  flexor 
tendons  are  purely  a  mechanical  principle,  to  carry  the  cord 
farther  from  the  joint  to  increase  its  power.  In  some  cases  the 
introduction  of  those  extra  bones  is  a  temporary  provision,  and 
they  are  absorbed  and  taken  away  when  no  longer  of  service. 

The  knee-pans  are   of  the  same  character,  being  movable 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  13 

fulcrums,  rising  and  falling  in  the  flexion  or  extension  of  the 
limb.  By  placing  the  palm  of  the  hand  over  the  knee-cap 
while  bending  the  leg,  the  sliding  motion  of  the  patella, 
up  and  down,  illustrates  its  office  in  the  economy  of  that  joint. 
"When  extra  burdens  are  imposed  for  a  succession  of  weeks 
or  months,  requiring  a  firmer  foothold  in  order  to  carry  the 
weight  steadily,  the  cordage  of  the  feet  will  increase,  both  in 
volume  and  tone,  to  meet  the  emergency.  Thus,  a  hodcarrier, 
climbing  ladders,  will  not  only  have  enlarged  feet,  but  sesa- 
moid  bones  make  their  appearance  at  points  where  the  tendons 
have  the  greatest  amount  of  strain  upon  them,  about  the  under 
side  of  the  toes. 

LAWS  TO  MEET  CASES. 

Nature  exercises  a  discretionary  oversight,  as  it  were,  for 
the  comfort  of  the  individual  as  well  as  for  the  immediate  pro- 
tection of  a  most  exposed  part,  by  introducing  temporary  assist- 
tance,  and  removing  it  when  no  longer  necessary. 

Small  ossific  deposits  sometimes  appear  about  the  finger 
joints,  for  the  same  beneficial  purpose.  Should  they  become 
inconveniently  large,  when  the  cause  is  removed  which  quick- 
ened them  into  existence,  ordinarily  they  begin  to  diminish  in 
size,  unless  the  individual  is  at  an  advanced  age,  when  vitality 
loses  much  of  its  former  force. 


EQUAL  NUMBER  OF  BOITES  IK  BOTH  SEXES. 

There  are  exactly  as  many  bones  in  the  female  as  in  the  male 
skeleton,  but  they  are  smaller  and  more  delicate  in  texture, 
with  slighter  depressions  and  less  prominent  eminences  upon 
them.  A  female  skull  is  smaller,  thinner,  and  bears  upon  its 
general  exterior,  peculiarities  indicative  of  mental  qualities,  if 


14.  THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

there  is  any  reliance  upon  phrenology,  not  to  be  neglected  or 
overlooked  in  studying  osteological  architecture. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  differences  is  a  gentle  arching  of 
the  female  head  from  the  forehead  upward  to  the  vertex,  which 
is  always  more  elevated  than  in  male  skulls.  Scarcely  one 
flat  head,  in  that  region,  can  be  found  in  a  thousand.  On  the 
contrary,  the  number  of  upwardly  arched  heads  is  small,  in 
comparison,  among  men.  They  are  more  commonly  quite  flat, 
or  slightly  raised  between  the  sinciput  and  occiput. 

This  characteristic  difference  is  considered,  by  experts  in 
sentimental  craniology,  as  proof  positive,  that  women  always 
have  more  elevated  moral  sentiment,  and  are  actually  better 
than  men,  because  they  possess  a  more  favorable  organization. 
Nothing  is  more  familiar  than  bones,  and  therefore,  little  or  no 
thought  is  bestowed  upon  them.  But,  when  carefully  ex- 
amined, they  are  rich  in  lessons  of  instruction.  They  are 
levers  for  the  attachment  of  muscles  or  movers,  by  the  con- 
traction or  relaxation  of  which  motions  are  effected. 

Every  animal  which  is  capable  of  making  a  motion  possesses 
muscles.  Most  of  them  have  skeletons  clothed  with  flesh, 
and  that  is  an  aggregation  of  muscles.  In  the  simpler  forms 
of  aquatic  life,  as  in  lobsters,  crabs,  etc.,  etc.,  the  skeleton  is  on 
the  outside.  "While  it  gives  attachment  to  muscles,  it  also  is  a 
coat  of  mail,  a  house  or  a  fortress  in  which  they  dwell,  secure- 
ly defended  from  the  assaults  of  enemies. 


FORMATION  OF  BO^ES. 

At  birth  we  have  no  perfect  bones,  with  the  exception  of 
the  auditory,  but  they  soon  begin  to  harden  as  the  infant 
is  furnished  with  food.  Then  ossification  commences, — a  very 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  15 

gradual  process,  not  fairly  completed  till  about  the  twentieth 
year. 

The  formation,  therefore,  of  two  hundred  and  forty-eight 
hard  bones  of  different  shapes,  densities,  and  positions,  out  of 
food  taken  into  the  stomach,  is  a  marvel.  But  that  is  not  the 
whole  of  the  wonder.  When  fashioned  and  apparently  finish- 
ed, then  they  are  taken  to  pieces,  particle  by  particle,  and  carried 
out  of  the  body,  a  new  particle  invariably  being  inserted 
when  an  old  one  is  removed. 

There  is  no  cessation  of  this  vital  process  ;  it  is  perpetually 
going  on  from  the  hour  of  birth  to  the  expiration  of  the  last 
breath.  It  is  not  unlike  building  a  brick  edifice.  When  com- 
pleted, were  the  masons  to  commence  forthwith  to  remove  a 
brick  in  the  wall,  and,  at  the  same  instant,  introduce  a  new  one 
in  its  place,  and  never  relax  in  that  repetition  of  exchanging  new 
for  old  ones,  till  the  structure  was  destroyed,  it  would  represent 
the  process  always  going  on  in  a  living  being. 

Our  very  bones  are  many  times  renewed,  therefore,  in  the 
course  of  a  medium  lifetime,  although  their  composition  is  a 
compound  of  phosphate  of  magnesia,  phosphate  and  carbonate 
of  lime,  manganese,  iron,  silex,  etc.,  in  definite  proportions, 
which  no  chemist  could  more  accurately  weigh  in  his  scales. 

MALE  AND  FEMALE  SKELETON. 

Although  constructed  of  exactly  the  same  materials,  in  the 
same  elementary  proportions,  having  the  same  general  forms, 
there  is  a  difference  in  the  skeletons  which  the  anatomist 
detects  very  readily. 

When  suspended  side  by  side,  a  characteristic  difference 
becomes  apparent.  The  pelvis  is  broader  and  deeper  in  the 
female,  which  throws  the  hips  further  apart,  giving  to  that 


16  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

central  pivot  of  the  frame  a  feature  which  artists,  particularly 
sculptors,  are  careful  to  note,  as  it  cants  the  knees  so  nearly 
together  they  almost  touch.  In  the  male  subject  the  thigh 
bones  are  nearly  parallel. 

Again,  the  necks  of  the  femoral  bones  are  longer  in  the 
female,  throwing  the  shafts  further  from  the  sockets  in  which 
they  are  articulated.  A  vertical  line  drawn  perpendicularly  to 
the  space  between  the  knees,  from  the  chin,  gives  the  most 
satisfactory  demonstration  of  this  very  curious  arrangement. 

The  distance  between  the  articulating  heads  of  the  thigh 
bones  is  so  plainly  recognized,  as  to  enable  those  with  a  very 
limited  acquaintance  with  osteology,  to  determine,  with  con- 
siderable accuracy,  to  which  sex  a  skeleton  belonged. 

This  circumstance  may  be  of  considerable  importance  in  con- 
ducting judicial  inquiries.  Public  anxiety  is  sometimes  pain- 
fully excited  when  human  remains  are  found  in  obscure  places, 
that  lead  to  the  suspicion  of  a  concealed  crime.  If  a  man  had 
mysteriously  disappeared,  and  the  discovered  bones  belonged  to 
a  female,  it  would  be  important  in  settling  a  mooted  question. 


CHAPTER  II. 
GENERALIZATIONS. 

References  in  Construction  to  Specific  Purposes — Rudimentary  Organs — 
Constant  Evidences  of  Design — Organic  Life  and  Multiform  Objects  of 
Interest  in  the  Investigation  of  Laws  Regulating  Existence. 

FKOM  the  beginning  of  woman's  existence,  a  reference  is 
discoverable  in  her  mind  and  body,  in  regard  to  the  exact  posi- 
tion she  was  predestined  to  occupy.  As  already  expressed,  her 
bones,  not  in  their  composition,  but  in  some  of  their  directions 
rather  than  in  their  forms,  indicate  a  reason  for  deviations  from 
lines  given  to  those  of  the  male.  They  must  have  had  the  same 
condition  in  the  first  created  woman,  otherwise  the  architecture 
manifested  in  the  pelvic  construction  w^ould  have  been  an 
imperfection.  Eve  would  have  left  no  posterity  on  the  earth, 
had  the  carpentry  of  that  region  been  different  from  what  it 
now  is  in  her  feminine  descendants. 

Small  philosophers  have  dared  to  suggest  that  Adam  was,  in 
his  own  person,  both  male  and  female.  Rudimentary  paps  of 
men,  monkies,  dogs,  swine,  and  many  other  quadrupeds,  are 
cited  as  testifying  to  the  truth  of  their  theory,  that  they  were 
originally  hermaphrodites — being  in  their  present  state,  substan- 
tially, degenerated  females.  In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
they  find  a  declaration  respecting  the  first  man,  which  strength- 
ens their  convictions. 

Woman,  then,  in  the  peculiarities  of  her  bones,  presents 
evidences  of  a  design  which  could  not  have  been  so  without  a 
designer.  She  did  not  fashion  herself ;  and,  therefore,  in  the 
commencement  of  our  inquiries,  are  irrefragable  proofs  of 


18  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

a  Supreme   Intelligence  in   every  step   of  progress  in  these 
investigations. 

The  sexes  have  been  distinct  from  the  beginning. 

It  would  be  inappropriate  to  discuss  the  mental  attributes  of 
women  in  the  commencement  of  these  deliberations,  or  to  insti- 
tute comparisons  by  weighing  her  brain  in  patent  balances, 
measuring  the  length  of  her  muscles,  counting  the  hairs  on  her 
head,  or  drawing  parallels  between  her  attainments  and  those 
of  giants  in  art,  literature,  and  science.  It  is  necessary  to  keep 
within  prescribed  boundaries  in  order  to  gain  accurate  know- 
ledge of  her  ways,  by  studying  carefully  what  is  already  known, 
to  find  out  what  may  be  unknown,  that  would  enhance  her 
claims  for  better  treatment  and  justice  at  the  hands  of  those 
who  are  her  natural  protectors  and  associates. 

By  contraction,  muscles  bend  the  arm,  raise  a  shoulder, 
grit  the  teeth,  or  carry  a  spoon  to  the  mouth.  There  are  no 
surprises  excited  by  motions  so  common.  Women  walk,  run, 
eat,  drink,  sleep,  and  recruit  their  exhausted  vitality  as  men  do. 
By  analagous  mechanism,  they  perform  on  musical  instruments  ; 
think,  speak,  sing,  and  express  their  sensations.  Therefore, 
their  brain  is  the  same  in  form  and  texture,  but  smaller,  and 
hence  it  has  been  hastily  concluded  they  are  unequal  to  enter- 
prises in  which  men  excel.  Only  those  quite  incompetent  to 
comprehend  the  mission  of  women,  or  appreciate  her  many 
claims  to  distinction,  arrive  at  that  conclusion. 

• 

WHAT  THEY  HAVE  DONE. 

By  hereditary  right  women  have  ascended  thrones.  History 
narrates  thrilling  military  successes  of  women.  In  strategy, 
they  excel  when  they  choose  to  exercise  their  ingenuity. 

They  have  risen  to  an  enviable  distinction  without  wealth, 


THE  WAYS  OP   WOMEN.  .  19 

by  the  practice  of  several  arts,  and  also  by  varied  intellectual 
attainments.  Aside  from  the  immense  aid  of  personal  charms, 
which  a  few  of  the  many  make  stepping-stones  to  eminent 
positions,  their  bravery,  heroism,  and  indomitable  perseverance 
have  always  been  themes  for  admiration,  which  poets  and  his- 
torians seize  upon  with  avidity  for  illustrating  their  capacity 
and  their  eminent  success  in  all  ages. 

They  struggle  mightily  and  die  valiantly  in  defence  of  their 
honor.  Guns,  swords,  batteries,  armies,  and  ships-of-war  are  set 
in  motion  by  men  for  the  subjugation  of  an  enemy.  Women 
bring  conquerors  to  their  feet  with  the  magic  of  their  eyes. 

PHILOSOPHICAL  REFLECTIONS. 

Although  osteology  has  been  referred  to,  a  study  of  the 
bones  of  all  kinds  of  animals,  it  would  be  a  profitable  study  in 
female  schools  and  seminaries.  There  is  nothing  improper, 
revolting,  frightful,  or  disgusting  in  the  pursuit.  No  better 
opportunity  ever  presents  for  impressing  upon  the  plastic  minds 
of  youth,  properly  presented,  an  overwhelming  argument 
against  infidelity,  than  a  plain  demonstration  of  the  skill  and 
superhuman  contrivances  exhibited  in  the  adjustment  of  the 
bones  of  a  bird,  a  carnivorous  beast,  or,  better  still,  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  human  skull. 

Children  must  see  things  to  understand  them.  The  eye 
takes  in  a  group  at  once,  and  the  impressions  made  by  tangible 
illustrations  of  the  resources  of  the  Divine  Originator,  in  the 
examination  of  such  mechanism,  cannot  be  easily  forgotten. 
To  see  the  tubular  bridge  spanning  the  Straits  of  Menai,  the 
traveller  has  ever  after  a  vivid  recollection  of  its  appearance 
and  utility,  which  he  could  not  have  by  simply  reading  about 
it.  Anatomical  researches  fail  to  show  any  very  striking  diner- 


20  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

ences  in  the  general  construction  of  men  and  women.  Bones, 
muscles,  nerves,  blood  vessels,  most  of  the  glands  and  viscera, 
are  precisely  alike  in  shape  and  function. 

It  is  not  enough  to  state  explicitly,  that  all  the  internal  ap- 
paratus of  organic  life  so  much  resemble  each  other  when  de- 
tached from  the  cavities  in  which  they  were  lodged  the  most 
experienced  student  of  a  dissecting-room  could  not  decide 
which  were  taken  from  a  male,  or  which  from  a  female.  Pro- 
ducts of  secreting  glands,  as  the  salivary  in  the  mouth;  the 
lachrymal  in  the  orbits ;  wax  in  the  external  ear,  etc.,  are  pre- 
cisely the  same  in  composition.  In  short,  whatever  is  necessary 
for  sustaining  life  in  the  one  is  equally  so  in  the  other,  and 
accomplished  precisely  in  the  same  manner. 

These  generalizations  are  neither  new  nor  equally  interest- 
ing to  all ;  nevertheless,  they  are  curious  facts,  and  not  un- 
worthy the  thoughtful  consideration  of  those  who  confess  their 
belief  in  the  existence  of  a  Being  who  alone  could  have  ori- 
ginated these  complicated  mechanisms,  and  established  laws 
which  secure  for  them,  as  they  do  for  planets  in  their  orbits, 
perfect  harmony  in  their  movements. 

NOTHING  BY  CHANCE. 

Two  deviations  in  the  bones  of  the  female  have  been  special 
points  of  interest,  not  on  account  of  their  texture  or  relations, 
but  because  they  indicate,  unmistakably,  an  office  which  the 
same  bones  in  a  man  were  not  to  have. 

The  collar-bones,  or  clavicles,  are  invariably  longer  in  women 
than  in  men.  Whether  she  is  short  or  tall,  those  bones  always 
maintain  the  observable  proportionable  length  to  the  rest  of  the 
skeleton  ;  otherwise,  there  are  no  peculiarities.  Attachments 
of  ligaments,  muscles,  the  course  of  vessels  over  or  under  them, 


THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN.  21 

are  no  way  different  in  the  sexes.  "While  women  inhabit  the 
earth,  those  collar-bones  will  have  the  same  relative  length, 
whether  mothers  nurse  their  babes  as  they  should  or  not. 

By  their  extra  elongation,  their  shoulder-blades  are  forced 
farther  back  towards  the  spine,  thus  making  a  broader  flooring, 
or  space,  for  the  lodgment  of  the  breasts  in  front.  This  is  a 
reason  why  women  cannot  exercise  their  arms  gracefully  in 
throwing  a  ball.  Rarely,  indeed,  can  they  hit  a  mark  in  that 
exercise,  even  with  hours  of  practice.  Their  awkwardness  in 
that  respect  is  proverbial ;  not,  however,  from  any  neglect  in 
the  education  of  the  muscles  of  the  arm,  but  from  a  congenital 
conformation,  are  they  less  expert  than  men  in  throwing.  The 
difficulty  lies  in  the  arrangement  of  the  ends  of  the  muscles, 
further  removed  from  the  shoulder- joint,  by  reason  of  longer 
clavicles. 

VOCAL  Box. 

That  protuberance  of  the  upper  part  of  the  throat,  vulgarly 
called  Adam's  Apple,  from  a  tradition  that  the  forbidden  fruit 
stuck  there — described  in  books  under  the  name  of  larynx,  or 
vocal  box — is  a  genuine  musical  instrument.  Within  it  there 
are  vocal  chords,  which  vibrate  as  the  current  of  air  passes  their 
thin  edges.  The  sound  thus  produced  is  voice,  afterwards 
modulated,  and  by  systematic  practice  forms  a  language. 

In  men  that  box,  at  puberty,  becomes  enlarged  and  partially 
ossifies.  At  that  period  of  development  the  boy's  voice  is 
irregular — a  vox  rauca — a  sign  that  he  is  passing  from  adol- 
escence to  perfect  manhood. 

With  females,  on  the  other  hand,  the  original  flexibility  of 
the  cartilages  of  the  larynx  remain  without  much  apparent 
alteration ;  thus  they  can  sing  in  the  same  tones  through  life. 
Their  voice  remains  always  the  same.  No  such  physiological 


22  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

metamorphosis  occurs  in  them,  as  in  the  boy,  that  alters  the 
shape  or  cartilaginous  character  of  the  vocal  box.  For  expan- 
sion or  development  of  the  larynx,  its  powers  were  very  slowly 
maturing  for  thirteen  or  fourteen  years,  and  when  the  voice 
changes,  Nature  announces,  in  that  sudden  evolution,  an  extra- 
ordinary physiological  revolution  in  the  boy's  system.  He  is 
then  a  man.  His  beard  grows,  the  muscles  attain  more  volume, 
and  all  the  powers  of  the  body  and  mind  are  exalted. 

This  law  perplexes  physiologists.  They  have  not  success- 
fully explained  vital  phenomena  which  still  await  elucidation. 

Why  some  organs  are  active,  and  others  quiescent  for  suc- 
cessive years,  and  then  quickly  burst  into  vigorous  development, 
waits  the  patient  researches  of  future  philosophers. 

In  height,  weight,  and  corporeal  beauty,  women  differ  from 
men  essentially.  In  their  moral  constitution  they  also  differ. 
Although  neither  so  tall,  so  heavy,  nor  so  strong,  they  are  not 
without  a  commensurate  compensation,  always  equal,  and  in 
many  respects  more  interesting,  according  to  the  progress  of  a 
refined  civilization. 

LAWS  OF  LIMITATION. 

In  comparing  the  physical  structure,  it  must  appear  obvious 
to  the  most  superficial  observer,  there  are  laws  in  force  which 
regulate  and  determine  animal  growth.  The  elongation  of  the 
body  of  a  man  much  beyond  the  stature  of  six  feet,  is  a  devia- 
tion from  a  normal  standard  in  nature.  An  inch  or  two  above 
or  below  the  ordinary  height  excites  no  particular  surprise,  as  a 
departure  from  the  ordinary  standard  of  humanity ;  but  six  feet 
and  a-half  or  seven  feet  are  anomalies,  arresting  our  attention 
as  abnormal,  and,  therefore,  extraordinary.  An  experiment  of 
an  eccentric  King  of  Prussia  for  rearing  an  army  of  giants,  by 
compelling  the  tallest  soldiers  to  marry  the  tallest  women  in  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  23 

kingdom,  exclusively,  whether  they  were  willing  or  not,  is  a 
matter  of  history,  which  proved  singularly  unsuccessful.  The 
children  of  such  parents,  as  often  as  otherwise,  presented  all 
those  intermediate  conditions  between  short  and  tall,  character- 
istic of  families  in  general.  In  a  group  of  six  or  eight  descend- 
ants from  those  unusually  tall  fathers  and  mothers,  perhaps  a 
majority  of  the  sons  were  six  feet.  A  few  were  even  taller 
than  the  parents,  while  the  remainder  fell  considerably  below. 

There  are  representatives  of  those  Anaks  in  various  parts  of 
Prussia,  at  this  time,  but  nowhere  are  there  either  families  or 
communities  which  have  perpetuated  an  unusual  altitude.  They 
degenerated  to  the  original  measure  determined  by  a  recognized 
law  of  limitation,  and  there  men  and  women  will  remain. 

There  is  a  seeming  predisposition  in  tall  men  to  select  short 
women  for  wives.  It  is  an  inborn,  inexplicable  fancy  of 
exceedingly  tall  women  to  marry  short  husbands.  It  may  not 
be  either  universal  or  imperative,  but  it  is  so  frequently  occur- 
ring as  to  have  been  noticed  by  philosophical  writers,  earnest 
interrogators  of  Nature  into  causes  and  the  effects  of  causes. 
They  think  they  perceive  in  this  spirit  of  selection,  otherwise 
denned  to  be  an  impulse  of  affection  or  preference,  a  law  for 
equalizing  the  height  of  mankind.  Were  dwarfs  to  give  pre- 
ference to  the  marital  companionship  of  dwarfs,  and  giants  to 
giants,  there  would  possibly  be  the  two  extremes — pigmies  and 
Brobdingnags  dividing  the  habitable  portions  of  the  earth 
between  them,  instead  of  races  of  rational  beings  controlled 
by  a  uniform  law  of  limitation,  standing  upon  the  same  plane,, 
and  averaging  the  same  stature. 

Yery  tall  men,  with  remarkably  tall  wives,  are  met  with- 
everywhere,  but  they  are  exceptions,  rather  than  illustrations  of 
the  law  of  development. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CUKIOSITIES  OF  ANATOMY. 

Laws  of  Adaptation — Reference  to  Lactation — Pelvic  Carpentry — Exposures 
to  Weather — Being  too  Delicate — Progress  of -Sentimentality,  etc. 

PECULIARITIES  of  the  collar-bones,  tlie  width  and  depth  of 
the  pelvis,  articulation  of  the  thigh-bones  and  some  other 
deviations  in  the  female  skeleton  already  adverted  to,  are 
quite  sufficient  for  establishing  the  truth  of  one  important 
proposition;  viz.,  that  they  incontestably  prove  design,  and, 
therefore,  there  was  a  designer.  As  we  cannot  add  one  inch  to 
our  stature,  or  make  ourselves  either  handsome  or  ugly,  we 
are  at  liberty,  as  free  agents,  to  improve  our  condition.  The 
form  given  us  in  the  shape  of  those  few  bones,  proves  as  clearly 
as  grander  exhibitions  of  Omnipotence,  the  controlling  agency 
of  a  superior  Being. 

Let  us  analyze  a  little  further  those  few  specimens  of  design, 
to  gather  further  insight  into  the  object  contemplated  and  the 
results  to  follow. 

These  long  collar-bones  are  braces,  keeping  the  shoulder- 
blades  from  being  drawn  too  far  forward  by  the  pectoral 
muscles.  Were  they  to  encroach,  it  would  be  to  the  injury  of  the 
breasts,  crowding  them  out  of  place,  and  thus  interfering  with 
the  prescribed  function  of  lactation. 

A  female  breast  offers  a  more  inviting  pillow  for  the  infant's 
head  than  the  hard  flat  chest  of  a  man.  A  woman  who  has 
had  no  experience  in  the  care  of  children  always  exhibits  more 
tact  and  success  in  managing  them  to  their  satisfaction,  than 
the  most  tender,  sympathizing  man.  The  softness  of  the  invest- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  25 

ing  tissues  of  the  chest,  the  wider  space  for  the  infant's  resting 
place,  and  the  delicate  cushioning  of  the  ribs,  forms  an  object 
contemplated  from  the  beginning,  and  indicated  beyond  ques- 
tion by  their  precise  position. 

The  out-spreading  hip-bones,  give  a  breadth  to  the  fe- 
male form,  which  is  striking  in  any  form  or  fashion  of  dress, 
compared  with  the  hips  of  an  adult  man.  The  pelvis  is  built 
up  of  only  three  immensely  large,  irregularly-shapen  pieces, 
constituting  its  walls.  The  key,  or  wedge-bone,  under  the 
name  of  os  sacrum,  is  the  base  on  which  rests  the  spinal  column. 
Its  prolongation  on  a  horizontal  line  in  animals  is  the  tail,  but 
which  in  the  human  skeleton  is  formed  of  several  distinct  pieces, 
gently  curved,  so  as  to  become,  at  the  extreme  tip,  a  flooring  of 
the  pelvis,  for  sustaining  the  viscera  above. 

This  particular  section  of  the  frame  of  the  female,  abound- 
ing in  curious  manifestations  of  means  to  ends,  is  complicated 
with  muscles  and  vessels,  and,  consequently,  cannot  readily  be 
described  in  a  way  to  have  the  mechanism  understood,  without 
drawings. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SOCIAL  STATUS  OF 


CUSTOM  sanctions  the  treatment  of  women  as  though  they 
were  unable  to  bear  atmospheric  exposures,  or  meet  hardships 
of  any  kind  with  impunity.  It  is  a  mistake. 

When  their  lives  are  cast  in  pleasant  places,  and  they  are 
sustained  by  a  conscious  independence  of  circumstances,  which 
can  only  be  realized  in  a  state  of  Christian  civilization,  they 
then  present  themselves  in  the  dignity  of  intellectual  character. 
Uneducated,  and  simply  occupying  the  position  of  a  slave  or  an 
out-door  laborer,  they  are  adequate  to  the  severest  test  of  servile 
employment. 

In  refined  communities,  where  contentment  prevails,  and 
where  she  is  contemplated  as  a  dependent  appendage,  rather 
than  an  efficient  assistant,  woman  physically  deteriorates. 
Kindness  may  degenerate  into  sickly  sentimentality.  Lamb- 
like and  gentle,  restless,  irritable,  and  presumptuously  exacting, 
are  the  poises  that  have  much  to  do  with  the  happiness  or 
unhappiiiess  of  the  sex. 

Industry  being  honored  as  a  virtue,  idleness,  consequently, 
tips  the  beam  in  an  opposite  direction.  Being  unemployed  is 
no  mark  of  a  lady.  Those  who  imagine  it  degrades  them  to  be 
associated  with  pursuits  indicative  of  labor,  unfortunately  for 
themselves  lose  what  they  most  covet,  —  viz.,  the  admiration  of 
their  friends. 

In-door  industry  is,  by  general  consent,  commendable,  and 
there  it  is  supposed  that  woman  is  in  her  appropriate  sphere. 
The  cares  devolving  upon  them,  married  or  single,  relieve 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  27 

them  from  those  exposures  which  bronze  the  features,  harden 
the  hands,  and  destroy  those  traits  of  gracefulness  which  largely 
contribute  to  the  withering  of  their  charms.  Caring  for  chil- 
dren, presiding  as  the  spirit  of  order  in  the  domestic  circle,  or 
giving  the  products  of  the  field  their  preparations  for  the  table, 
are  not  incompatible  with  elegance  of  manners,  courtesy,  and 
the  handy  disposition  of  the  toilet. 

When  she  steps  beyond  that  assigned  theatre  for  the  exer- 
cise of  her  powers,  whether  improved  by  education  or  displayed 
in  the  rudeness  of  untutored  abandonment,  a  woman  is  out  of 
place. 

Whether  wise  or  foolish,  learned  or  ignorant,  poor  or  rich, 
beautiful  or  ugly,  it  is  conceded  by  most  men,  not  by  reasoning 
but  by  intuition,  that  woman  should  be  favored,  and  not  sub- 
jected to  the  same  discipline,  in  any  department  of  industry,  as 
themselves.  On  this  sentiment  civilization  took  its  rise.  To 
some  extent,  savages  and  barbarians  concur  with  philosophers, 
that  females  cannot  endure  as  much  as  men,  because  they  have 
not  the  same  hardy  organization ;  so  they  alternately  favor  or 
oppress  them,  regarding  them  as  servants,  but  not  their  equals 
or  companions. 

With  savages,  woman  bears  all  the  domestic  burdens,  suffers 
indignities  patiently,  and  rears  up  children  tenderly,  protecting 
them  with  a  mother's  undying  love,  to  be  abused  by  them  as 
soon  as  they  have  strength  in  their  little  arms  to  give  them  a 
blow. 

A  true  history  of  the  world  is  also  a  record  of  the  wrongs 
of  woman.  Her  happiness,  her  sorrows,  her  influence,  and  her 
misfortunes,  are  not  estimated  as  they  should  be.  She  deserves 
heaven  as  a  compensation  for  her  bad  treatment  on  earth. 


28  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

EQUALITY  OF  THE  SEXES. 

In  theory  it  sounds  well,  when  a  political  demagogue  prates 
loudly  before  a  multitude,  of  human  rights  and  the  equality  of 
the  sexes.  A  millstone  hangs  as  heavily  at  the  neck  of  a 
colored  woman  on  a  cotton  plantation,  as  it  would  suspended 
from  the  neck  of  the  orator's  wife;  but  circumstances  alter 
cases.  After  election,  nothing  more  is  heard  of  all  being  born 
free  to  pursue  their  way  to  happiness,  till  preparation  for  open- 
ing the  polls  comes  around  another  year. 

Unfortunately  for  the  best-contrived  plans  for  ameliorating 
social  distinctions  in  this  commercial  age,  it  is  necessary  to 
stand  on  a  pile  of  dollars  in  order  to  receive  the  same  attentions 
accorded  to  those  who  actually  possess  them.  Talent,  educa- 
tion, or  blood  of  martyrs  in  one's  veins,  are  no  recommendation 
to  an  acquaintance  with  property-owners,  because  revenues  are 
the  accredited  touchstone  to  respectability. 

Every  city  in  Europe  and  America  has  its  philosophers  in 
rags,  splendid  women  in  poverty,  the  descendants  of  great  fami- 
lies without  a  shilling.  Who  cares  for  them?  Who  invites 
them  to  dine  when  they  entertain  distinguished  guests  ? 

Nobody !  No,  they  are  not  asked  to  take  a  seat  in  the  broad 
aisle  of  a  church  erected  by  their  ancestors  !  This  is  a  text  for 
reflection,  but  not  a  suitable  subject  for  a  sermon,  it  would 
so  shock  the  sensibilities  of  devout  hypocrites,  who  worship 
mammon  under  the  mistaken  idea  of  honoring  the  institutes 
of  religion. 

AN  INCONSISTENCY. 

A  glaring  inconsistency  in  the  present  order  of  society  is 
I  an  unwillingness  to  allow  females  to  sustain  themselves  by  in- 
dustrial pursuits  which  are  claimed  to  be  the  legitimate  avoca- 


THE   WAYS  OF   WOMEN.  29 

tion  of  men.  J3y  their  exclusion,  therefore,  from  enterprises 
perfectly  within  their  sphere,  many  are  unemployed,  while 
another  portion  are  cruelly  overworked. 

A  million  of  women  in  the  United  States,  and  perhaps 
twice  or  thrice  that  number,  contribute  nothing  to  the  common 
weal.  Necessity  makes  no  demand  upon  them,  and  conse- 
quently they  are  not  only  non-producers,  but  are  sustained  by 
the  industry  of  others. 

One  class  of  unemployed  females  are  denominated  ladies, 
because  they  are  above  labor,  and  another  stigmatized  as  va- 
grants, if  scrutinized  legally,  on  account  of  doing  nothing. 

No  woman  can  be  so  far  elevated  by  the  adventitious  cir- 
cumstances of  having  an  income  that  defrays  her  expenses,  as 
to  be  exonerated  from  a  moral  obligation  of  doing  as  she  would 
be  done  by,  in  her  intercourse  with  those  less  fortunate  than 
herself.  Where  that  golden  principle  is  lost  sight  of  by  man  or 
woman,  deterioration  follows.  A  few  are  lulled  on  down  and 
pampered  on  delicacies;  others  have  measured  out  to  them 
bitter  draughts :  vexations,  disappointments,  blighted  expecta- 
tions, thwarted  aspirations  succeed  each  other  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. Their  pathway  in  life  is  through  darkness  and  personal 
sufferings. 

No  wonder  an  expression  of  despair  escapes  the  lips  of 
those  who  feel  themselves  born  to  misfortune,  in  contrasting 
their  condition  with  others,  who  never  had  an  ungratified  de- 
sire. They  cannot  see  why  they  have  been  forced  into  exist- 
ence to  be  miserable. 

God  in  his  wise  purposes  will  clear  away  the  clouds  which 
make  the  course  of  life  obscure  to  our  limited  mental  vision. 
A  law  of  compensation  exists  on  the  statutes  of  the  Sovereign 
ruler  of  events,  which  will  never  be  repealed  while  the  pillars 
of  justice  sustain  an  edifice  in  heaven  not  made  with  hands. 


30  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Those  difficult,  social,  and  pecuniary  problems  are  not  for  us 
to  solve.  Why  sinners  are  rich  or  saints  poor,  cannot  be  satis- 
factorily explained  by  human  wisdom.  Divine  government  is 
impartial,  since  it  rains  upon  the  unjust  as  copiously  as  upon 
the  just. 

MIGHT  AND  RIGHT. 

Argue  as  we  may  to  persuade  the  favorites  of  fortune  to 
divide  their  goods  with  the  destitute,  they  will  not  do  it.  In- 
side passengers  pity  those  exposed  -to  the  peltings  of  the  storm 
outside,  but  they  do  not  voluntarily  exchange  places  with  them. 
Nor  do  the  poor,  when  unexpectedly  put  in  possession  of  an 
abundance,  manifest  a  grain  more  of  compassion  than  those 
they  before  envied  on  account  of  their  independence,  or  de- 
nounced for  their  cold-heartedness  and  want  of  sympathy. 

ONE  OF  THE  GREATEST  INVENTIONS. 

Money  was  as  potent  when  Abraham  wandered  with  his 
flocks  as  it  is  in  the  transactions  of  bankers  in  this  year  of 
grace. 

It  was  a  great  invention,  and  clothed  with  additional  inter- 
est, when  we  reflect  upon  it,  that  whoever  hit  upon  the  idea 
first,  of  having  a  piece  of  metal  represent  the  value  of  a  camel, 
a  horse,  goods,  chattels,  or  territory,  thousands  of  times  larger  in 
bulk,  and  then  succeeded  in  making  those  to  whom  the  scheme 
was  divulged  agree  to  it,  still  more  extraordinary. 

Antiquarians  cannot  decide  the  epoch  of  its  first  appear- 
ance in  trade.  As  far  back,  however,  as  sacred  or  profane  his- 
tory reaches,  money  was  quite  as  potent  as  it  now  is.  So  pre- 
cious was  it  very  anciently,  it  was  probably  counterfeited, 
which  is  inferred  from  a  transaction  mentioned  in  the  book  of 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  31 

Genesis,   in   which   the   purchase   amounted  to  four  hundred 
shekels,  "  current  money  of  the  merchant" 

Civilization,  from  its  phases  in  the  orient  to  Anno  Domini, 
1873,  has  not  much  improved  this  universal  representative  of 
wealth.  It  also  represents  power.  The  mere  belief  that  an  in- 
dividual has  more  of  it  than  another,  gains  ascendency  for  him 
over  those  who  were  before  his  equals. 


CHAPTER  V. 

EXTERIOR  OF  THE  SEXES. 

WHY  the  male  lion  has  a  shaggy  mane,  a  larger  body,  or 
stronger  claws  than  the  lioness,  is  beyond  our  ken.  Throughout 
the  animal  kingdom,  with  a  few  exceptions  already  partially 
recognized  in  a  preceding  chapter,  males  are  larger  and  stronger 
than  females  of  the  same  race,  and  far  more  beautiful. 

Male  birds,  from  the  gaudy  peacock  to  the  ground  sparrows, 
are  magnificently  ornamented  with  variegated  plumage,  difficult 
to  imitate  successfully  by  art.  But,  on  the  ascending  scale,  on 
reaching  human  beings,  there  is  a  reversal  of  the  law.  Woman's 
beauty  transcends  all  other  displays  of  beauty,  while  man  is  far 
less  engaging  in  facial  expression.  His  face  inspires  a  different 
kind  of  surprise,  admiration,  or  sentiments,  but  no  sentiment  of 
adoration. 

Man's  face  is  partially  covered  by  a  beard,  if  he  is  fully 
developed.  His  features  are  bolder,  harder,  and  his  build  and 
movements  are  indicative  of  strength,  vigor,  and  the  wildest 
exhibitions  of  impetuosity.  With  massive  limbs  and  regular 
deportment,  he  has  no  exterior  beauty  to  be  compared  with  the 
exterior  of  a  beautiful  woman.  A  handsome  man  is  handsome 
by  contrast,  in  possessing  those  harder,  bolder,  and  rougher  phy- 
sical signs  of  attributes  which  animate  him. 

Why  was  a  beard  bestowed  upon  man  ?  That  question,  many 
times  answered,  is  still  open  for  a  more  satisfactory  explanation 
than  has  yet  been  given.  If  it  serves  as  a  sieve  to  prevent  the 
inhalation  of  dust  into  the  lungs,  why  not  protect  a  woman  in 
the  same  manner?  She  crosses  the  sandy  deserts  of  Africa 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  33 

with  her  bearded  nomadic  associates,  exposed  to  the  same 
simooms.  His  cervical  glands,  a  priori,  require  no  more  protec- 
tion than  those  on  her  throat  performing  precisely  the  same  office. 

Alternations  of  heat  and  cold  do  not  interfere  with  the 
functions  of  those  salivary  organs  in  her  exposed  neck,  any 
oftener  than  when  matted  with  a  bushy  beard.  ISTor  do  we 
admit  the  cogency  of  the  argument,  that  a  beard  is  a  sign  to 
signify  the  perfection  of  manhood.  Those  fair-skinned  or  dark 
tribes,  or  the  red  Indians  of  this  Continent,  are  provided  with 
no  such  appendage.  The  Caucasian  has  a  beard.  "We  shave  it 
off  daily,  but  Nature  takes  no  hint — cares  nothing  about  the 
inconvenience  to  which  we  are  subjected  in  removing  it  with  a 
dull  razor :  it  continually  grows.  It  was  intended  to  subserve 
some  useful  purpose,  but  at  present  physiologists  cannot  agree 
what  that  is.  Were  non-bearded  men  mentally  inferior,  or 
those  persons  less  muscular,  a  clue  would  be  found  to  a  solution 
of  the  question.  There  are  as  many  Samsons  without  a  beard, 
and  bald,  as  there  are  with  long  locks  and  a  disgusting  sheet 
of  tangled  beard  swaying  over  their  linen  bosoms. 

Straggling  hairs  on  the  chin  and  the  angles  of  the  mouth  on 
females  are  taken,  on  slender  authority,  however,  as  indications 
of  a  masculine  character  and  sterility.  A  Spanish  woman  was 
extensively  exhibited  a  few  years  since  in  all  the  principal  cities, 
who  had  a  prodigiously  black  bushy  beard.  She  was  the  mother 
of  three  children,  neither  of  whom  appeared  to  have  inherited 
a  predisposition  to  its  mother's  anomalous  appearance. 

In  her  case,  the  development  of  a  beard  did  not  diminish  a 
womanly  expression  of  refinement  and  feminine  excellence, 
nor  did  it  interfere  with  any  maternal  relations.  It  was  thick, 
glossy,  long,  which,  with  thick-set  whiskers,  would  have  been 
the  delight  of  scores  of  beardless  bucks  who  have  vainly  coaxed 
for  a  show  on  a  smooth  chin,  through  costly  pots  of  perfumed 
bear's-grease. 


34  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

When  women  have  passed  the  age  of  maternity,  it  is  quite 
common  to  be  annoyed  with  straggling  hairs  shooting  out  on 
the  upper  lip,  and  about  the  lower  edge  of  the  chin ;  but 
attempts  at  removing  them  by  violence,  the  grip  of  tweezers,  or 
jerks  by  the  fingers,  by  creating  a  slight  local  inflammation, 
furnishes  an  extra  determination  of  blood  to  the  locality,  that 
rather  augments  the  crop.  Depilatories  are  to  be  had  in  the 
shops  which  remove  them  without  inflicting  an  injury  to  the 
complexion. 

FEMALE  VOICE. 

A  particularly  sonorous  voice  is  ordinarily  associated  with  a 
beard  in  men.  The  tone  of  the  female  voice  is  subject  to  none 
of  the  changes  which  the  boy's  larynx  produces  on  his  voice  in 
passing  through  a  pubert  revolution  of  his  system.  The  girl  of 
the  agre  of  the  boy  is  more  mature,  and  shows  her  advance 

o  «/ 

beyond  him  in  the  contour  of  her  chest.  Both  remain  physi- 
cally stationary  for  many  successive  years.  At  forty-five  or 
fifty,  depending  to  some  extent,  perhaps,  on  climate,  all  other 
circumstances  being  equal',  she  passes  through  a  change  quite  as 
curious  and  inexplicable  as  any  phenomena  which  are  stumbling- 
blocks  in  science. 

With  all  her  faculties  in  maturity,  in  health,  in  capacity  for 
all  the  responsibilities  belonging  to  her  surroundings,  nature  is 
inflexible  by  declaring  she  shall  no  longer  exercise  the  functions 
of  a  mother — she  can  no  longer  bear  children. 

On  the  other  hand,  man  may  possibly  be  a  father  at  any 
period  from  youth  to  a  full  one  hundred  years,  if  reliance  is  to 
be  placed  in  the  statements  of  very  high  medical  authority. 

-Some  men's  voices  are  not  essentially  altered  in  timbre  at 
puberty.  They  are  harsh,  unmusical,  or  squeaky,  which  is 
attributable  to  an  arrest  of  larynx  development  while  other 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  35 

revolutionary  changes  are  taking  place  in  the  natural  order  of 
events.  An  analogous  transition  in  the  vocal  apparatus  of  fowls 
is  noticeable.  Young  cocks  make  laudable  efforts  at  crowing, 
which  are  ridiculous,  compared  with  the  full  sonorous  voice  of 
a  fully-grown  chanticleer.  Wild  fowls  exhibit  no  very  noisy 
vocalizations  like  crowing.  Theirs  is  a  repetition  of  one  or  two 
notes  or  warbles.  A  sonorous  voice  is  due,  in  part,  to  an  evo- 
lution of  sinuses  or  apartments  in  the  bones  of  the,  cheeks  and 
frontal  bone,  in  which  there  are  large  chambers,  bearing  a  certain 
proportion  to  the  capacity  of  the  box  in  which  the  vocal  cords 
vibrate.  In  eunuchs,  these  sonorous  rooms  for  the  reverberation 
of  sounds  are  hardly  perceptible.  There  are  none  in  children. 
The  plates  of  bone  begin  to  recede  for  the  formation  of  sinuses 
at  puberty.  They  are  extensive  in  the  skull  of  the  lion,  whose 
roar  is  a  terrific  sound  in  those  dreary  regions  where  he  prowls 
a  monarch  over  beasts. 

THEIR  RIBS. 

From  immemorial  time  a  vague  impression  has  been  enter- 
tained among  those  most  susceptible  in  the  way  of  marvels,  of 
course  the  most  ignorant,  that  men  have  not  as  many  ribs  on 
one  side  as  the  other ;  and  the  reason  given  for  it  is  simply  this, 
viz. ;  that  Adam  had  one  taken  out  for  the  manufacture  of  Eve. 
A  very  ridiculous  notion,  without  a  single  fact  to  base  it  upon. 
Every  well-formed  man  has  precisely  twelve  ribs  on  each  side, 
twenty-four  in  all.  Seven  are  long,  articulated  to  the  breast- 
bone through  the  intervention  of  elastic  cartilages.  Five  on  either 
side  are  short,  articulated  posteriorly  to  the  spine,  but  their  front 
extremities  float  loosely  in  the  fleshy  walls  of  the  abdomen.* 

*  A  monomaniac  in  one  of  the  Western  States,  in  May,  1871,  undertook 
to  extract  one  of  his  own  ribs,  out  of  which  it  was  his  purpose  to  make  a 
wife  who  should  come  up  to  his  ideal  standard  of  a  proper  companion  for  a 
bachelor  of  means  1 


36  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

This  curious  arrangement  in  the.  lower  ribs  allows  for  the 
enlargement  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  and  the  flexion  of  the 
body  forward. 

All  the  ribs  of  serpents  are  free  at  their  anterior  extremity, 
and  move  like  feet  in  crawling,  each  being  acted  upon  by  a 
complicated  attachment  of  muscles.  In  consequence  of  their 
peculiar  articulation  to  the  backbone  by  a  kind  of  rolling  ball 
and  socket  joint,  those  hideous  reptiles  are  enabled  to  swallow 
their  prey  in  one  piece,  even  when  the  mass  has  a  greater 
diameter  than  their  own  body ;  the  ribs,  being  pressed  off  either 
way,  react  back,  as  so  many  springs,  to  compress  the  contents 
of  the  stomach  into  the  smallest  dimensions  as  the  process  of 
digestion  proceeds. 

In  number,  situation,  and  use,  the  ribs  are  the  same  in  both 
sexes.  The  muscular  cordage  embracing  them  is  also  the  same, 
and  they  bear  the  same  names. 

Even  admitting  it  to  be  literally  true  that  a  rib  was  taken 
from  Adam,  which  we  have  no  right  to  doubt,  deformities, 
malformations,  or  defective  developments,  we  have  seen,  are 
not  transmissible.  If  they  were,  then  there  would  be  a  space 
for  a  missing  rib. 

An  excess  of  members  is  not  unfrequent,  but  in  a  majority 
of  instances,  when  there  are  supernumerary  parts,  as  an  extra 
finger,  extra  ears,  supernumerary  toes,  etc.,  they  invariably  ap- 
pear to  have  belonged  to  another  being.  In  the  commencement 
of  uterine  existence,  there  were  two  germs ;  the  growth  of  one 
being  arrested,  while  some  fragments  becoming  attached  to  the 
other,  in  the  progress  of  development,  were  nourished  and  be- 
came a  part  of  the  living  child. 

In  every  case,  supernumerary  appendages  are  considered  as 
having  been  the  property  of  the  blighted  twin. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  37 


STRANGE  FREAKS  itf  NATURE. 

A  man  advanced  in  years,  awhile  since,  exhibited  himself 
extensively,  who  presented  the  strange  anomaly  of  the  lower 
limbs  of  an  infant  protruding  from  just  below  the  pit  of  his 
stomach.  To  the  spectator  it  had  the  appearance  of  a  babe 
half  hidden  in  his  abdomen. 

Originally  there  were  twins.  There  was  an  arrest  of  devel- 
opment of  one,  from  the  hips  upward.  The  other  portion 
became  attached  to  the  other  at  the  point  of  union  described, 
and  then  there  was  a  second  interruption.  The  limbs  had 
attained  their  present  size,  when  all  further  growth  was  com- 
pletely suspended.  Had  there  been  no  causes  operating  to 
interfere  with  the  uniform  law  of  utero-gestation,  there  would 
have  'been  a  pair  of  twins  of  equal  completeness  in  form  and 
development. 

The  babes  that  recently  died,  born  at  the  "West,  whose  bodies 
were  united  in  a  way  to  appear  as  though  lying  on  their  backs, 
with  their  heads  in  opposite  directions,  are  a  further  illustration 
of  this  melting  of  two  beings  into  one. 

Occasionally  twins  are  born  united  firmly  back  to  back. 
The  Siamese  twins  are  held  together  by  a  large  ligamentous 
mass,  the  division  of  which  might  peril  their  lives,  no  surgeon 
being  willing  to  sever  the  connection  for  fear  of  a  hemorrhage 
from  arteries  they  might  not  be  able  to  control. 

"Where  there  are  two  heads  with  only  one  body,  as  seen  in 
the  colored  sisters  who  have  been  through  the  States,  they  are 
two  distinct  persons.  This  is  certain,  because  the  two  brains 
pursue  different  trains  of  thought,  utter  words,  and  constantly 
show  in  their  mental  manifestations  they  are  distinct  in  soul, 
though  nourished  and  sustained  by  one  body.  It  is  quite  prob- 


38  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

able,  however,  that  it  will  be  discovered  there  are  two  spines, 
and  two  distinct  spinal  cords,  hereafter. 

An  agent  who  appeared  to  have  a  pecuniary  interest  at  stake 
in  this  double-headed  girl,  proposed  insurance  on  her  life  at  an 
office  in  New  York.  A  question  was  at  once  mooted,  whether 
there  were  two  or  only  one  individual  to  be  examined.  There 
were  four  lower  limbs,  but  only  one  set  of  bowels,  and,  as  it 
was  thought,  only  one  stomach.  A  paper  was  handed  in  from 
a  medical  gentleman  of  Boston,  who  gave  it  as  his  decided 
opinion  there  were  two  persons  in  the  one ! 

In  the  course  of  these  deliberations,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
show  that  defects  are  not  propagated  to  the  injury  of  a  race. 
Individuals,  but  not  families,  are  imperfect  in  form.  Nature 
is  conservative  and  corrects  deviations,  but  never  perpetuates 
them.  Accidental  circumstances  modify  conditions.  Hence, 
the  children  of  such  deviations  from  a  normal  standard  are  not 
like  their  parents.  One-arm  children,  children  with  only  one 
leg,  or  those  with  extra  limbs,  are  not,  as  a  natural  consequence, 
the  offspring  of  parents  thus  defective  or  over-burdened  with 
useless  appendages. 

PELVIC  CONSTRUCTION. 

Notwithstanding  the  consideration  that  has  been  given  in 
preceding  pages  to  the  pelvis,  as  a  piece  of  mechanism,  unri- 
valled, curious  from  the  simplicity  of  its  construction,  and  the 
many  essential  offices  it  sustains,  it  would  be  unpardonable  to 
omit  pointing  out  to  parents,  instructors,  and  those  having 
charge  of  school-houses,  seminaries,  and  institutions  for  the 
education  of  females,  a  danger  that  should  be  avoided,  but 
which  rarely  receives  any  thought  beyond  the  lecture-room  of  a 
medical  college. 

In  a  sitting  posture,  the  weight  of  the  body  is  transmitted 


. 

THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  39 


to  the  seat  through  the  lower  ends  of  two  bones,  having  an 
irregular  knob-shape,  called  ossa  ischia. 

If  in  early  youth  those  three  bones  composing  the  pelvis, 
are  forced  out  of  place,  or  gradually  distorted  by  pressure,  it 
may  not  only  produce  a  subsequent  life  of  misery,  but  abso- 
lutely be  a  cause  of  a  painful  death  to  a  woman. 

As  repeatedly  asserted,  the  bones  are  slow  of  growth,  and 
not  completely  ossified  till  near  the  twentieth  year  in  females. 
A  neglect  to  provide  them  with  soft  cushions  or  elastic  cover- 
ings, instead  of  hard  benches,  hard  chairs,  or  harder  stools, 
while  pursuing  their  studies,  may  produce  such  deviations  in 
those  bones  as  to  be  ever  after  beyond  relief.  A  hard  bone  out 
of  shape,  or  forced  from  the  line  it  would  have  taken  had  it 
not  been  for  habitual  violence,  cannot  be  pressed  back  to  the 
position  it  should  have  to  secure  the  benefits  of  a  perfect  organ- 
ization. 

No  school  for  female  children  should  be  considered  suitable 
for  them,  if  the  seats  are  not  as  generously  supplied  with  cush- 
ions as  the  pews  of  a  church. 

The  same  danger  does  not  threaten  boys  on  board-benches. 
Their  pelvic  bones  are  set  nearer  together,  are  stouter,  heavier, 
and  the  depth  from  the  pubic  brim  to  lower  margin  is  shal- 
lower. In  a  word,  on  the  perfect  form  of  that  bony  basin  de- 
pends the  existence  of  the  human  race. 

There  is  no  parallelism  between  female  savages  and  deli- 
cately nurtured  young  ladies,  the  pride  and  the  glory  of  civili- 
zation. The  latter  cannot  endure  the  privations  nor  sustain 
themselves  under  a  tithe  of  those  vicissitudes  which  are  inciden- 
tal to  nomadic  life.  While  civilization  brings  out  the  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties  of  an  immortal  soul,  it  carries  in  its 
train  customs,  habits,  and  tendencies  which  sometimes  debilitate, 
undermine,  or  effectually  destroy  individual  constitutions. 


40  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

"We  cannot  dwell  on  all  the  points  that  present  themselves  on 
reflecting  upon  what  and  how  we  are  to  act  in  regard  to  favor- 
ing the  proper  development  of  yonug  females.  They  demand 
far  more  attention  than  they  receive  in  the  way  of  delicate 
attention.  There  is  a  public  duty  and  obligation  to  be  dis- 
charged, independently  of  parental  solicitude.  Providing  them 
with  soft  seats  in  schools  and  seminaries  is  indispensable,  and 
for  the  reasons  here  set  forth. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IMPERFECT  DEVELOPMENT  OF  WOMEN". 

IN  no  country  are  there  so  many  imperfectly  developed 
females  as  in  this,  in  proportion  to  the  population.  Nor  are 
there  more  perfectly  formed  ones  on  the  globe. 

"When  a  woman  is  defective  in  physical  development,  there 
is  sometimes  a  corresponding  imperfection  of  mind.  Excessive 
nervous  irritability,  or  any  deviation  from  an  uniform  expres- 
sion of  that  calm,  consistent  deportment  which  is  a  command- 
ing element  in  the  character  of  a  lady,  may  be  due  to  some 
derangements  in  her  system. 

It  is  proverbial  that  women  of  the  Eastern  States  are 
spare,  sharp-featured,  and  wear  an  anxious,  restless  expres- 
sion. There  are  smiling  faces,  and  fair  ones  too;  but  most 
of  them  exhibit  an  air  of  haste,  nervous  agitation  on  slight 
occasions,  quite  at  variance  with  that  gentleness  of  manner, 
sweetness,  and  affability,  which,  properly  directed,  wins  more 
than  a  park  of  artillery  could  control. 

Climate  is  chargeable  with  many  influences  which  derange 
temperaments.  Nevertheless,  it  is  sadly  to  be  lamented  that, 
while  some  are  constitutionally  less  attractive  than  others,  it 
is  their  misfortune  to  make  themselves  unnecessarily  repulsive. 
Assuming  they  'have  a  presumptive  right  to  do  as  they  choose, 
and  all  men  are  bound  in  courtesy  to  bear  and  forbear  under 
a  galling  fire  from  their  batteries,  such  women  are  more 
dreaded  than  loved. 

Women   who    are  resolved    upon   driving,   mistake   their 


42  THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

mission.  Weak  men  may  be  led  by  them ;  but  it  is  a  difficult 
undertaking  to  drive  those  they  may  most  desire  to  have  at 
their  mercy. 

No  woman  who  has  arrived  at  eighteen  with  a  flat  chest, 
is  harmoniously  developed.  Prominent  signs  of  womanhood, 
the  absence  of  which"  are  indications  of  a  defect  to  be  deplored, 
not  because  she  is  less  vivacious,  less  capable,  or  less  able  to 
fill  the  role  prescribed  to  the  sex  in  the  ordinary  pursuits  of 
life,  are  very  common  with  irritable  temperaments.  The 
ingenuity  of  dressmakers  and  india-rubber  manipulators  is 
consequently  invoked. 

There  are  young  ladies,  in  the  ratio,  perhaps,  of  ten  in 
a  hundred,  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States,  on  whom 
there  is  no  mammal  elevation  till  they  become  mothers. 
When  that  event  occurs,  there  is  an  immediate  deposition  of 
fat  round  the  lactic  ducts  to  protect  the  breast  from  injury 
during  lactation.  At  weaning,  the  adipose  deposit  is  absorbed, 
and  the  vessels,  so  carefully  surrounded  by  elastic  tissue  against 
the  possible  contingencies  of  contusions,  while  the  fountain 
was  supplying  the  wants  of  a  new  being,  shrink  back  to  the 
surface  of  the  great  pectoral  muscle,  hardly  larger  than  fine 
threads. 

Fashionable  interference  with  nature  is  the  secret  of  this 
anomalous  condition.  To  an  extent  quite  noticeable,  the  cut 
and  fit  of  garments  suppress  the  mammal  characteristic  of 
perfect  womanhood. 

It  is  a  tacit  acknowledgment  in  trade,  that  art  takes  the 
place  of  nature  in  all  cases  where  show  answers  all  the 
purposes  of  substance. 

Artificial  limbs,  wigs,  cambric  breast-cups,  basket-work 
convexities,  wooden  calves,  etc.,  which  improve  the  appear- 
ance, are  neither  violations  of  statute  or  social  law,  and, 


THE   WAYS  OP   WOMEN.  43 

therefore,  will  not  be  abandoned  while  one  sex  has  a  desire 
to  appear  well  made  to  the  other. 

So  artistically  are  mammal  appliances  put  in  place,  res- 
piration produces  all  the  movements  as  when  the  organs  are  in 
full  maturity. 

An  imposition  is  practised  both  on  old  and  young  ladies 
of  non-mammal  development  condition,  that  should  be  exposed. 
There  is  on  sale  in  shops  an  ointment,  exceedingly  precious, 
according  to  the  shameful  misrepresentation  of  proprietors,  for 
promoting  the  growth  of  the  breasts. 

Medications,  either  externally  or  internally,  for  that  pur- 
pose, are  positively  useless.  The  swindle  is  enormously 
profitable,  because  no  female,  after  wasting  as  many  dollars  as 
she  has  teeth,  has  the  moral  courage  to  denounce  the  fraud. 
It  would  be  confessing  her  failure  in  the  experiment.  So 
the  sale  goes  briskly  on,  and  will  till  something  new,  repre- 
sented more  potent,  with  a  sweeter  odor,  takes  its  place. 
Empty-headed  bucks  and  beardless  fops  patronize  whisker 
fertilizers  in  the  same  way,  without  ever  having  started 
three  hairs  where  none  were  designed  to  grow. 

ANOMALIES. 

"When  the  hair  bulbs  are  wanting,  or  are  but  imperfectly 
developed,  which  are  hereditary  conditions  in  some  families, 
no  medications  are  effectual  in  quickening  them  into  activity. 
When  they  are  imagined  to  have  been  serviceable  in  pro- 
moting a  growth  of  hair,  it  is  from  friction  in  rubbing  on 
the  article,  and  not  the  preparation  which  produces  the  change. 

Anomalous  peculiarities  show  themselves  from  generation 
to  generation  in  families.  A  predisposition  to  baldness  is 
one;  a  beardless  chin  is  another.  But  such  departures  are 


44:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

not  uniform.  Thus  one  son  has  a  full  beard  and  whiskers, 
while  a  brother  is  deficient  in  both.  It  is  to  be  observed,  in 
regard  to  these  deviations  from  a  normal  type,  or  inconstancy 
in  external  markings,  that  there  are  no  departures  or  variations 
in  organs  essential  to  perfect  nutrition. 

Through  the  entire  history  of  the  Kendalls,  as  far  as 
chronicles  refer,  a  child  is  occasionally  born  with  six  toes, 
on  one  or  both  feet,  or  with  an  extra  finger  outside  the  small 
one,  on  one  or  both  hands.  But  that  by  no  means  warrants  a 
belief  the  Kendalls  of  England,  or  their  relatives  in  America, 
are  the  lineal  descendants  of  extinct  Palestine  giants,  who 
were  thus  provided  with  additional  toes  and  fingers.  It  is 
rather  to  be  explained  on  the  philosophical  principle  that  has 
already  been  suggested,  viz.,  that  each  and  every  supernu- 
merary finger  or  toe  is  the  remnant  and  only  surviving  one 
of  a  blighted  twin,  that  would  have  been  born  had  all  its 
parts  been  symmetrically  developed  in  time. 

A  female  dwarf  is  often  seen  in  New  York,  petitioning 
for  charity,  whose  arms  terminate  at  the  elbows.  There  are 
no  fore-arms.  On  the  end  of  each  stump  are  fleshy  kernels, 
which  may  be  properly  considered  rudimentary  fingers.  This 
is  an  instance  of  arrested  development,  and  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  cases  of  excess  of  members.  Her  lower  limbs 
are  perfect  in  shape,  but  not  elongated,  which  indicates  a 
second  arrest  of  vital  force  at  the  period  usually  most  active 
in  children,  when  the  shafts  of  their  cylindrical  bones  are 
lengthened. 

There  is  a  much-respected  member  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons  who  never  had  arms  or  legs,  nor  are  there  any 
rudimentary  prominences  to  lead  to  the  supposition  they  ever 
had  a  germinal  existence.  Melancholy  as  this  extraordinary 
form  of  defective  external  organization  appears,  he  is  a  man 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  45 

distinguished  for  a  brilliant  and  cultivated'  intellect.  With 
singular  adroitness,  he  writes  with  a  pen  in  his  mouth.  That, 
too,  shows  to  what  vicarious  uses  muscles  may  be  trained, 
and  how  the  nerves,  even  those  emanating  from  ganglionic 
centres,  may  conduct  volitions  or  carry  influences  widely 
different  from  those  assigned  to  them  by  the  physiologists. 

ABNORMAL  DEVIATIONS. 

The  subject  is  not  yet  exhausted.  Some  further  obser- 
vations on  the  fruitful  topic  of  deviations  are  appropriate. 
A  violation  of  a  natural  law  does  not  abrogate  it.  It  may 
be  more  logically  expressed  by  repeating  the  words  of  another 
chapter,  that  a  law  of  nature  cannot  be  altered  or  abolished. 
In  those  singular  deviations  in  animal  forms  from  the  true 
type,  we  see  that  a  constant  effort  for  a  correction  of  the 
error  or  defect  is  apparent.  Nature  never  relaxes  or  aban- 
dons the  undertaking  till  the  object  is  fully  accomplished. 

A  calf  with  two  heads,  a  pig  with  only  one  eye,  a  chicken 
with  four  legs,  or  a  Nellis  without  arms,  is  a  departure  from 
a  prescribed  pattern.  They  are  aberrations,  and  therefore 
not  to  be  repeated  by  direct  propagation.  Whenever  they 
happen,  it  is  due  to  circumstances  which  we  have  not  had 
the  sagacity  to  detect  by  scientific  researches. 

Physical  defects  that  incapacitate  individuals  from  serving 
themselves  according  to  the  requirements  of  their  nature,  and 
for  aiding  and  assisting  their  offspring  till  they  are  in  a 
condition  to  take  care  of  themselves,  independently  of  the 
parents,  are  not  represented  in  their  progeny.  Monsters  are 
neither  the  fathers  or  mothers  of  monsters.  Were  it  other- 
wise, confusion  would  follow,  and  no  two  animals  would 
resemble  each  other  in  form,  in  character,  or  habits.  The 


46  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

world  would  teem  with  frightful  creatures,  more  hideous  and 
terrible  than  the  prolific  imaginations  of  poets  muster  for 
their  most  daring  contests  with  strange  beings,  created  for 
special  occasions. 

ORIGINAL  FOKMS  PRESERVED. 

By  ingenious,  persevering  manipulations,  flowers,  fruits,  and 
even  animals  may  be  produced  wholly  unlike  those  from  which 
their  origin  was  derived.  But  they  cannot  be  kept  at  that 
point.  A  tendency  to  fall  back  to  the  form  and  condition  of 
the  original  type  cannot  be  effectually  suppressed.  A  gardener's 
treatment,  unrelaxed,  furnishes  the  market  with  uncommonly 
large  strawberries ;  but  a  relaxation  of  his  attentions  would  be 
taken  advantage  of  by  vigilant  nature,  to  turn  them  back  to 
the  size  to  which  the  law  of  limitation  had  assigned  them. 

Animals  may  be  so  amalgamated  by  interfering  with  the 
laws  of  reproduction,  as  to  bring  into  being  forms  that  indicate 
an  origin  from  mixing  races.  They  may  not  very  accurately 
resemble  either  parent,  and  yet  there  are  characteristic  pecu- 
liarities which  belong  to  both.  Mules  are  neither  horses  nor 
asses.  Without  the  beauty  of  the  first,  or  insignificance  of 
the  latter,  they  are  highly-prized  hybrids,  often  taller  than  the 
horse,  longer-lived  than  either  of  the  parents,  and  with  a 
hardier  constitution,  greater  powers  of  endurance,  and  immu- 
nity from  diseases  to  which  both  are  incident.  "With  such 
excellent  properties,  mules  do  not  breed  mules.  Nature  is 
consistent  with  herself  in  the  enforcement  of  laws  for  the 
preservation  of  species. 

ORIGIN  OF  SPECIES. 

"We  shall  not  meddle  with  the  engrossing  subject  of  evolu- 
tion, the  present  plaything  of  scientists.  "Whether  we  are 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  47 

degenerated  monkeys  or  the  children  of  Adam,  is  of  no  conse- 
quence in  these  investigations.  It  is  enough  that  we  are  here ; 
but  how  or  when  the  first  human  being  assumed  the  preroga- 
tives of  a  man,  if  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  is  ignored,  cannot  be 
determined  by  quarrelling  with  theorists. 

To  fortify  the  position  assumed,  that  nature  does  not  allow 
of  the  reproduction  of  defects,  or  rather  deficiencies,  of  parts 
essential  for  individual  protection,  further  illustrations  might 
be  collected  quite  as  cogent  as  any  already  cited. 

Of  a  large  collection  of  remarkable  examples,  two  more  only 
are  introduced,  not  so  much  on  account  of  their  novelty  as  to 
preserve  a  connecting  fact,  usually  omitted,  viz. ;  that  persons 
born  without  a  full  complement  of  limbs  feel  no  deprivation  on 
that  account,  nor  wTould  they  ever  repine  over  the  misfortune, 
were  they  not  commiserated  and  educated  to  a  knowledge  of 
their  condition. 

A  bank  clerk  resided  in  Boston,  born  with  only  one  perfect 
arm  and  hand.  The  other  stopped  short  at  the  elbow.  Ex- 
ceedingly expert  in  handling  bills  at  the  counter,  he  could  not 
conceive  of  any  use  for  another  hand  if  he  had  had  one. 

Mr.  JSTellis,  whose  name  was  once  familiar  from  Maine  to 
Georgia,  was  born  without  arms.  Not  the  slightest  rudimentary 
elevation  at  the  shoulders  indicated  a  blighting  of  elementary 
limbs.  His  skill  in  using  scissors  with  his  toes,  writing  legibly 
and  rapidly,  drawing,  handling  a  knife,  firing  at  a  mark  with  a 
bow  and  arrow,  was  very  surprising.  He  was  a  well-informed, 
intelligent  person,  whose  conversation  and  deportment  were 
those  of  a  gentleman  of  refinement.  Mr.  Nellis  frankly  stated 
that  he  could  not  realize  that  he  was  defective  in  any  essential 
particular,  because  he  had  no  use  for  arms  if  he  had  them. 

While  waiting  for  a  train  at  the  western  depot  in  Boston, 
some  years  ago,  a  tall  man  came  to  the  stove  to  warm  himself, 


48  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

whose  hands  were  on  his  shoulders.  They  were  large,  and  the 
lingers  long  and  bony,  having  the  appearance  of  being  used  in 
laborious  pursuits.  The  arm-bones  were  there,  no  longer  than 
at  birth,  but  stout  and  strong.  The  case  is  without  a  parallel 
in  the  writer's  experience.  Had  he  been  questioned,  no  doubt 
he  would  have  said  he  experienced  no  particular  inconvenience 
from  the  deformity,  because  he  had  not  been  deprived  of  any 
better  arms. 

•  INDUCED  MODIFICATIONS  OF  FORMS. 

Mr.  Charles  Brown,  a  native  of  Waltham,  Mass.,  died  in 
1871,  whose  right  arm-bone,  between  the  shoulder-joint  and 
elbow,  was  absorbed  completely,  and  carried  out  of  the  system. 
An  injury,  inflicted  by  a  blow  from  the  horn  of  an  ox  he  was 
visiting  in  the  stall,  produced  inflammation,  which,  without 
much  pain,  and  certainly  before  there  was  apprehension  of 
danger,  resulted  in  that  most  extraordinary  removal  of  a  long 
cylindrical  bone,  without  the  escape  of  a  single  particle  through 
an  external  aperture.  The  brace  being  taken  away  which  kept 
the  muscles  extended,  they  drew  the  elbow  up  to  very  near  the 
shoulder,  bulging  out,  of  course,  in  shortening,  by  contraction, 
destroying  the  symmetry  of  the  arm.  When  his  fingers  grasped 
an  object,  or  he  lifted  a  laden  basket,  handled  the  reins  of  a 
harnessed  horse,  the  arm  was  elongated  to  the  original  length. 
On  letting  go,  the  muscles  would  instantly  contract  like  india- 
rubber  straps. 

With  animals,  when  there  are  anomalies  in  respect  to  limbs, 
there  is  commonly  an  excess  rather  than  a  deficiency.  We 
have  seen  a  dog  without  four  legs  which  had  acquired  a  method 
of  going  ahead  with  a  degree  of  fleetness  quite  surprising. 

It  is  possible  to  very  materially  abridge  the  growth  of  parts, 
to  distort  bones,  and  to  promote  or  diminish  vital  force  in  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  49 

rearing  of  children.     Civilization  is  imperfect  when  it  conflicts 
with  nature. 

THE  DRESS  OF  LITTLE  GIRLS. 

They  should  never  wear  tight-fitting  dresses  over  the  chest. 
Entire  and  perfect  freedom  should  invariably  be  given  to  that 
region.  Any  close  contact  of  clothing  over  the  pectoral  mus- 
cles, or  habitual  compression,  is  an  interference  with  a  series  of 
local  changes,  slowly  progressing  there,  of  incalculable  import- 
ance in  the  economy  of  female  life.  Perfectly  soft,  pliable 
fabrics  for  their  apparel  need  not  be  urged  upon  those  who  seek 
for  knowledge  in  reference  to  a  conscientious  discharge  of  paren- 
tal duties.  For  the  ignorant,  or  those  who  care  but  little,  for  those 
who  assert  there  is  something  more  to  learn,  before  we  have 
exhausted  the  springs  of  thought,  these  comments  are  intended. 

In  the  anatomical  arrangements  of  the  female  chest,  there 
is  a  congenital  preparation  for  the  development  of  organs  at  a 
proper  time,  the  elements  of  which  have  been  quiescent  from 
early  infancy.  By  and  by  compact  cells  are  filled,  and  the 
mamma  rise  is  organic  completeness. 

If,  however,  compression  is  maintained  there,  regularly  and 
habitually,  when  an  increased  vital  activity  is  preparing  for  the 
development  of  those  organs,  the  contest  will  not  be  a  pro- 
tracted one  between  nature  and  opposition.  Arterial  energy 
will  diminish  under  restraint,  and  the  breasts  will  not  rise,  as 
they  would  have  appeared,  had  no  hindrance  to  the  developing 
force  been  operating. 

Even  when  there  is  a  considerable  adipose  fulness  uncon- 
nected with  the  mammary  apparatus  in  its  embryotic  form,  if 
close-fitting  garments  are  habitually  worn,  the  roundness  and 
softness  will  be  reduced,  by  absorption  of  the  material  deposi- 
ted in  the  subcutaneous  tissues. 


50  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Under  the  pretext  for  protecting  the  chest  from  cold,  some 
mothers  are  despotically  disposed  to  swathe  their  little  daugh- 
ters as  closely  as  bandaged  mummies.  It  is  wholly  wrong.  Noth- 
ing should  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  space  between  the 
shoulders  in  front  to  the  tip  of  the  breast-bone.  Harnessing 
them  in  stays,  corsets,  or,  indeed,  any  other  contrivances  of  fash- 
ionable acceptance  for  improving  the  forms  of  young  gir]s,  are 
abominations. 

By  mismanagement,  with  the  intention  of  improving  upon 
nature,  that  they  may  have  more  attractions,  and  more  arrows 
in  their  quivers  when  young  ladies,  mothers  do  them  an  irre- 
parable injury. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  VITAL  FOKCE. 

Friction  will  partially  raise  the  tone  of  vessels  that  minis- 
ter to  the  mamma,  but  medications  are  inert  and  powerless  in 
developing  them  where  violence  of  dress  prevented  their 
growth  at  first. 

Having  shown  the  uselessness  of  lotions,  unguents,  electric- 
ity, or  other  trumpeted  remedies  for  defective  mammary  devel- 
opment, and  the  grossness  and  unblushing  impudence  of  im- 
postors in  that  line  of  imposition,  we  proceed  to  another 
field  where  the  harvest  is  large  and  the  laborers  few. 

A  withered  or  partially  palsied  limb  may  be  improved  by 
rubbing.  The  hand  of  a  sound  person  is  a  thousand-fold  better 
than  a  flesh-brush  or  hair-mitten.  Friction  accelerates  the  flow 
of  blood  where  the  circulation  is  sluggishly  carried  on,  owing 
to  the  defective  influx  of  nervous  influence,  which,  together 
with  warmth  and  the  electrical  current  from  the  officiating 
operator,  raises  the  tone  of  vitality  in  the  member. 

Women  imperfectly  developed  are  apt  to  be  excitable, 
apprehensive,  and  wear  the  look  of  being  cautiously  watching 


THE   WATS  OF  WOMEN.  51 

for  surprises.  They  are  the  women  who  are  restless  without 
cause,  and  unhappy  in  the  midst  of  pleasant  surroundings. 
They  represent  that  class  of  ladies  who  are  not  treated  as 
they  consider  they  ought  to  be  by  their  husbands.  Con- 
ditions of  the  mind  are  recognized  in  which  revolting  crimes 
are  perpetrated  by  women,  not  accounted  for  upon  any  well- 
established  principles  in  mental  philosophy,  which,  perhaps 
remotely,  have  a  connection  with  some  of  those  abnormal 
conditions  of  organs  closely  in  sympathy  with  the  brain, 
about  which  we  shall  know  more  when  the  progress  of  science 
has  settled  other  questions  respecting  the  phenomena  of 
human  life. 

Mental  feebleness  may  have  been  caused  by  a  want  of 
force  from  sources  not  precisely  nervous  centres.  And  the 
other  extreme,  of  paroxysms  of  unbridled  rage,  arise  from 
an  excess  of  vitality,  driven  onward  to  engorge  parts  whose 
intimate  relations  to  the  encephalon  are  more  direct  than 
hitherto  supposed. 

MEDICAL  JUEISPEUDENCE. 

Medical  jurisprudence  is  destined  to  undergo  modifications, 
to  keep  pace  with  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the  brain, 
and  especially  the  female  brain,  acted  upon  as  it  is  by  influ- 
ences peculiar  to  themselves.  When  lawmakers  have  been 
educated  to  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  origin  of 
nervous  power,  and  particularly  understand  the  phenomena 
of  the  passions,  they  may  more  reasonably  account  for  many 
ungovernable  freaks  of  an  excited  woman  than  are  made 
easy  of  comprehension  by  writers  on  moral  insanity. 

In  closing  these  monitory  suggestions  in  reference  to 
dressing  little  girls,  it  is  hoped  that  no  one  may  be  so 
uncharitable  as  to  consider  it  is  impertinence  to  discuss  a 


52  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

subject  that  actually  lias  an  important  bearing  on  the  physical 
well-being  of  female  adults. 

Physicians  and  tormented  mothers  know,  by  painful 
experience,  of  the  origin  of  another  misfortune;  indeed  a 
considerable  one,  too,  which  is,  perhaps,  caused  by  tight 
dressing,  and  certainly  aggravated  by  it. 

SPECIAL  GRIEVANCES. 

Undeveloped  nipples,  far  more  common  than  supposed, 
are  an  interminable  source  of  trouble,  because  an  infant 
cannot  apply  its  mouth  for  drawing  milk.  Artificial  means 
for  nourishing  the  child  must  necessarily  be  adopted,  always 
to  be  deplored;  and  in  the  next  place,  the  breast  is  injured 
by  over-distension  of  the  milk-ducts,  or  influenced  by  frequent 
applications  of  instruments  for  drawing  off  the  secretion  that 
would  have  been  extracted  with  pleasurable  suctions  instead 
of  painful  inflictions,  by  the  delicate  lips  of  her  darling. 

That  condition  which  gives  employment  to  wet-nurses  in 
the  most  fashionable  circles,  rarely  occurs  in  the  middle  classes 
of  society.  Nature  has  her  own  way  with  children  of  the 
laboring  classes.  Little  girls  are  not  dressed  and  re-dressed  in 
starched  garments  half  a  dozen  times  a  day,  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  dinner  etiquette,  the  tea-table,  the  evening 
drawing-room,  and  various  other  specialties,  to  fit  them  for 
the  positions  they  are  presumed  destined  to  sustain  when  of 
a  proper  age.  Consequently  they  grow  up  in  health,  with 
the  form  they  ought  to  have,  and  which  the  millionaire's 
daughters  would  have  had,  had  they  been  simply  let  alone. 

Who  ever  heard  of  a  peasant  mother  requiring  a  wet- 
nurse?  Where  can  a  poor  man's  child  be  found  brought  up 
on  a  bottle,  in  consequence  of  the  impossibility  of  taking  its 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  53 

nourishment  from  the  fountain  prepared  for  it  before  birth, 
because  the  mother's  nipples  were  prevented  from  developing 
by  the  indiscreetness  of  her  mother? 

In  the  fulness  of  our  civilization,  which  is  the  triumph  of 
reason  over  ignorance,  we  choke  ourselves  with  tight  cravats ; 
ligate  our  limbs  with  straps,  bracelets,  or  something  equally 
objectionable,  to  check  circulation ;  mount  up  on  high  heels, 
that  force  the  feet  out  of  the  plane  of  comfort;  wear  patent 
leather,  which  prevents  evaporation  of  moisture ;  cover  our 
heads  with  airtight  hats  at  the  expense  of  our  hair ;  sport 
with  glasses  that  spoil  our  eyes ;  fill  our  stomachs  with  com- 
positions productive  of  gastric  derangements,  and  vainly  seek 
relief  from  self-inflicted  miseries  that  shorten  life,  in  gorging 
with  drugs  that  are  worse  than  the  diseases  they  were  expected 
to  remove  I 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  DRESS  or  WOMEK. 

Small  Waists — Sufferings  from  Fashion — Local  Deformities — Compression 
of  the  Chest — Development  of  Consumption — Unheeded  Advice — Form 
of  Boys — How  Female  Dresses  should  be  Worn. 

HAVING  explained,  in  extenso,  the  injurious  effects  resulting 
from  improperly  adjusted  garments  on  female  children  when 
they  are  ^coming  into  womanhood,  let  us  now  investigate  the 
positive  character  of  modern  female  dress  in  respect  to  the 
production  of  disabilities  traceable  to  that  source  in  adult  life. 

Invention  is,  perhaps,  exercised  as  actively  in  the  produc- 
tion of  new  patterns,  or  modification  of  old  ones,  in  the 
garments  of  women,  as  in  any  department  of  human  industry. 
There  is  neither  lull  nor  suspension  in  that  most  prolific  field 
of  restless  variety.  There  is  no  stability  in  fashions.  It  is  not 
required ;  since  rest  in  that  direction  would  be  equivalent  to 
a  return  to  a  system  of  simplicity  and  comfort  identical  with 
demi-civilization,  if  not  barbarism. 

Complete  ease  and  freedom  of  the  muscles  seems  never  to 
have  been  contemplated  in  these  ever-changing  forms  of  their 
clothing ;  and  the  nearer  they  approach  the  borders  of  dis- 
comforture,  without  exactly  killing  themselves  outright,  the 
more  agreeable,  measured  by  a  standard  of  the  votaries  of 
fashion. 

How  THE  CHEST  is  INJURED. 

It  is  singular  that  in  the  manifold  styles  of  dress  which 
succeed  each  other  with  the  rapidity  almost  of  barometrical 


THE  WAYS  OF   WOMEN.  55 

variations  of  temperature,  not  one  of  them  favors  the  freedom 
of  the  thorax  or  chest.  That  is  the  axle  to  which  all  pieces 
are  attached,  and  the  pivot  around  which  they  revolve,  if 
at  all. 

SMALL  WAISTS. 

A  small  waist  is  the  first  consideration.  It  is,  therefore, 
the  study  of  those  who  conceive  they  are  too  large  just  where 
there  should  be  no  interference  with  the  respiratory  apparatus, 
how  to  diminish  their  diameter.  This  desideratum  has  been 
the  premature  death  of  thousands  upon  thousands  of  the  fairest 
and  most  promising  young  ladies,  before  they  had  time  to 
learn  the  dangers  they  were  inviting  by  following  the  example 
of  those  who  teach  by  their  practice  that  they  prefer  conformity 
to  the  requirements  of  a  perverted  taste,  to  exemption  from  the 
penalties  of  being  out  of  shape,  in  the  sense  of  those  who 
exercise  no  judgment  in  regard  to  this  important  matter.  The 
smaller  the  waist,  therefore,  the  better,  provided  there  is 
space  enough  preserved  for  descent  of  food  to  the  stomach. 

Stays  are  the  instrumentalities  for  staying  the  development 
of  the  chest.  Beginning  early,  the  ribs  are  pinioned  closely, 
and  by  unrelaxing  ligation — the  lacing  being  carried  to  the 
last  endurable  point  without  arresting  respiration  —  their 
growth  is  arrested  to  an  extent  only  familiarly  known  to 
anatomists.  Their  function  is  nearly  destroyed,  as  they 
become  anchylosed,  or  welded,  where  they  were  intended 
to  have  motion  up  and  down,  according  to  the  inflation  and 
collapse  of  the  lungs.  After  being  subjected  to  the  torture 
of  stays,  for  such  it  is,  however  eloquently  those  who  have 
lived  through  the  operation  of  having  their  chests  kept  down 
to  the  capacity  of  a  child  of  twelve  year's,  may  argue  to  the 
contrary,  breathing  is  with  them  an  abridged  function — or  it 


56  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

may  be  arrested  without  hesitation.  They  have  counteracted 
nature,  and  in  various  ways  must,  and  do,  suffer  in  con- 
sequence. 

They  even  carry  this  violence  to  the  chest  still  further, 
and  interfere  lamentably  with  the  recti  muscles  in  front  of 
the  abdomen,  which  reach  from  the  pit  of  the  stomach  to  the 
pubic  arch.  These  are  strong  elastic  straps  for  keeping  the 
bowels  in  place  and  in  contact.  Thus,  tight  lacing  forces  the 
intestines  out  of  place.  One  organ  is  driven  too  near  another, 
and  the  stomach,  instead  of  being  pendulous,  restrained  by 
its  own  ligaments,  is  pressed  down  out  of  place,  and  that 
drags  the  spleen ;  while  the  free  rise  and  fall  of  the  diaphragm 
is  limited,  which  strikes  at  life  itself,  because  the  lungs  cannot 
be  fully  inflated  when  such  displacements  exist. 

DISPLACEMENT  OF  ORGANS. 

After  being  worn  till  all  these  disturbances  have  become 
bearable,  the  distorted  organs  having  been  adjusted  in  new  re- 
lations from  which  there  was  no  escape,  when  a  lady  removes 
her  stays  she  is  very  uncomfortable,  because  all  those  internal 
parts,  acting  in  duresse,  have  a  tendency  to  return  into  those 
natural  relations  from  which  they  were  forcibly  driven. 

Those  abdominal  muscles  which  keep  the  abdomen  braced 
in  symmetrical  relations,  entirely  lose  their  contractible  energy 
by  being  for  a  long  while  relieved  from  duty ;  and  hence,  in 
taking  away  the  artificial  support,  the  mass  of  viscera  gravitates 
in  a  way  to  make  a  very  undesirable  abdominal  protuberance 
in  front.  Hence,  when  broken  into  stays,  the  harness  cannot 
be  dispensed  with  without  discomforture. 

Chambermaids  imitate  their  mistresses,  as  far  as  their  cir- 
cumstances allow,  in  self-imposed  misery.  Fashions  and  cus- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  57 

toms  are  infectious.  When  endemic,  they  have  a  regular  run. 
Females,  therefore,  in  the  constitution  of  society,  suffer  more 
than  men  by  the  mutations  of  fashions.  The  latter  make  them- 
selves ridiculous  by  the  cut  of  their  coats,  the  shape  of  their 
hats,  or  the  show  of  toggery  on  their  watch-chains ;  but  they  are 
too  much  afraid  of  dying  before  their  time  comes,  to  kill  them- 
selves with  stays,  although  a  few  brainless  fops  make  them- 
selves extra- ridiculous  by  wearing  them. 


WHO  TO  CONSULT. 

If  it  is  desirable  for  women  to  have  convincing  proof  of  the 
injury  they  voluntarily  inflict  upon  themselves,  that  they  may 
imagine  themselves  more  attractive  in  the  estimation  of  others, 
let  them  consult  medical  authorities.  They  will  there  have  the 
collected  opinions  of  professional  men,  who  can  have  no  motive 
for  misrepresentations,  that  the  sacrifice  of  women  through  the 
vice  of  dress,  and  destruction  of  infantile  life,  through  malfor- 
mations, displacements,  and  special  maladies  induced  from  the 
wearing  of  stays,  is  a  melancholy  comment  on  one  of  the 
demands  of  modern  civilization.  Ladies  thus  deformed,  and  in 
a  part  of  the  body,  too,  which  prevents  the  respiratory  organs 
and  the  heart  from  carrying  on  processes  of  importance  to  the 
vital  status  of  the  individual,  look  with  disgust  upon  the  little 
feet  of  a  Chinese  belle,  kept  down  to  the  size  of  an  adult  great 
toe  by  bandages.  They  are  cruelly  served — not  voluntarily.  It- 
is  no  self-inflicted  torture ;  they  uncomplainingly  submit  to 
make  themselves  more  saleable,  but  it  is  forced  upon  them  by 
ambitious  parents,  that  they  may  bring  a  remunerating  price  for 
the  trouble  of  rearing  them.  Of  course,  with  such  feet,  they 
cannot  walk  with  steadiness  or  facility.  They  must  have  sup- 
port by  a  fan  against  a  wall,  a  parasol,  or  the  occasional  touch 


58  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

of  some  solid  resisting  body,  or  fall  to  the  floor.  And  this  is 
beautiful !  Nor  is  it  a  whit  more  absurd  than  disfiguring  the 
chest,  not  allowing  it  to  expand,  nor  half  so  injurious.  There 
are  neither  lungs  or  a  pulsating  heart  in  the  feet,  but  there  are 
both  in  the  pleural  cavities. 

% 

MATERNAL  INTEREST  IN  DAUGHTERS. 

Maternal  solicitude  for  the  position  and  happiness  of  a  daugh- 
ter is  manifested  very  differently  in  this  country  and  China. 
There,  no  mother  in  whose  bosom  there  is  a  grain  of  motherly 
affection,  would  be  so  lost  to  a  sense  of  duty  as  to  let  her  loved 
Ky-yan-ste  shoot  up  to  the  stature  of  herself  with  feet  as  large 
as  a  Christian's.  No,  indeed,  that  would  be  barbarous  beyond 
forgiveness. 

Compressing  the  waist  with  stays  has  precisely  the  same 
effect  on  the  carpentry  of  the  bones,  that  bandaging  the  feet 
produces.  When  the  violence  is  completed,  the  first  cannot 
move  comfortably  without  her  stays,  nor  the  latter  hobble 
through  a  room  without  having  her  ankles  secured  by  many 
yards  of  firm,  strong,  inelastic  bandages,  which,  for  show,  are 
made  of  richly-colored  ribbons.  Thoracic  compression  alters 
the  figure  of  the  lungs.  The  chest  is  naturally  broad  at  the 
base,  becoming  narrower  at  the  top — a  cone-shaped  structure. 
Women  make  it  narrow  where  it  should  be  broad,  and  broader 
at  the  apex,  where  it  was  originally  narrow. 

INFLATION  OF  AIR-CELLS. 

The  lowest  air-cells  of  the  lobes  cannot  expand  when  air  is 
inhaled,  while  those  in  the  upper  region  of  the  lungs  are  pre- 
ternaturally  put  upon  the  stretch,  in  order  to  provide  surface 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  59 

for  the  creation  of  blood.  One  end  of  each  lung  is  compelled 
to  do  more  towards  maintaining  life  than  it  was  organized  to 
do,  while  the  lower  part  is  prevented  from  giving  much  more 
than  a  feeble  degree  of  assistance. 

Favored,  as  many  robust  women  are,  with  a  fine  organization 
in  other  respects,  they  can  live  out  a  long  life  in  comparative 
health  and  comfort ;  but  they  are  few  compared  to  the  vast 
number  who  fall  short  and  die  before  they  have  attained  all 
they  might  have  had  on  earth. 

The  first  or  topmost  rib  on  either  side,  just  under  the  collar- 
bone, is  short,  thin,  and  sharp  on  its  inner  curvature.  It  has 
no  motion,  being  a  brace  between  the  dorsal  column  and  the 
breast-bone.  It  is  immovable  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
large  arteries  and  veins  belonging  to  the  arms  on  either  side  of 
the  neck.  Such  is  the  construction  within  the  horizontal  arch 
of  that  rib,  the  upper  portion  of  the  lungs  rise  up  through  the 
space  above  the  level  of  the  bone.  In  cases  where  the  chest 
has  been  manipulated  till  the  lungs  cannot  expand  downwards, 
they  are  forced  up  above  that  rib.  Rising  and  falling  above 
and  below  that  rib-level,  the  lobe  chafes  and  frets  against  the 
resisting  curvature.  It  is  inflamed  at  last,  and  the  organ  becomes 
diseased.  If  that  chafing  is  not  relieved,  but  in  each  respiration 
the  serous  covering  of  the  lung  is  irritated  continually,  the 
inflammation  is  apt  to  extend  quite  into  the  body  of  the  organ, 
increased  and  intensified  by  exciting  emotions,  laborious  pur- 
suits, or  unfavorable  exposures.  Finally,  the  mucous  lining  of 
the  air-cells  within  the  lung  sympathizes  and  becomes  inflamed 
also. 

COMMENCEMENT  OF  CONSUMPTION'. 

In  this  condition  we  may  trace  the  commencement  of  pul- 
monary consumption.  It  would  be  denominated  sporadic,  and 


60  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

widely  different  from  pulmonary  disease  by  inheritance.  But 
the  possibility  of  deranging  the  function  of  the  lungs  by  simply 
distorting  the  chest,  cannot  be  doubted,  nor  would  any  anatomist 
presume  to  say  such  treatment  does  not  do  violence  to  those 
much-abused,  delicately-constructed  organs.  Being  forced  from 
their  normal  place  in  the  pleural  cavities,  is  dangerous  in  the 
extreme. 

Consumption  is  not  only  developed  by  tight  lacing,  but  a 
multiplication  of  cases,  where  the  original  conformation  of  the 
individual  was  favorable  for  a  comparatively  long  life,  is  beyond 
question.  Medications  cannot  stay  the  onward  march  of  dis- 
organization, when  ulcerations  eat  the  tissues.  Once  destroyed, 
they  can  never  be  reproduced.  Therefore,  if  prevention  is 
better  than  cure,  less  expensive  and  always  more  agreeable,  why 
not  profit  by  these  suggestions  ? 

~No  compression  of  the  base  of  the  chests  of  men  being 
induced  by  tight  dressing,  a  chafing  of  the  upper  surface  of  the 
lungs  rarely  occurs  with  them.  If,  by  constant  effort  to  dis- 
tend the  lungs,  the  lobes  extend  where  there  is  the  least  resist- 
ance, the  tissues  covering  the  space  between  the  inner  curve  of 
the  superior  rib  and  cervical  vertebrae  gradually  relax,  and  are 
convexed  upwardly  at  each  breath.  This,  therefore,  explains  the 
mechanical  results  of  thoracic  compression,  and  women,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  are  the  most  frequent  subjects  of  a  diseased 
condition  of  the  lungs  from  that  cause. 

UNHEEDED  ADYICE, 

In  a  blaze  of  hygienic  light,  admonitions  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession are  unheeded,  and  death  and  stays  act  in  unison,  deci- 
mating the  fairest  flowers  of  intellectual  womanhood.  A  warn- 
ing voice  is  lost  in  the  distance  when  it  refers  to  this  subject. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  61 

Not  one  mother  in  a  thousand  doubts  the  truth  of  what  phy- 
sicians proclaim  in  respect  to  this  painful  invasion  of  the  chest, 
yet  she  continues  the  practice. 

Great  men,  giants  in  any  department  of  busy  life — those 
who  make  the  world  conscious  of  their  influence — those  who 
quicken  thought  or  revolutionize  public  sentiment,  and  leave 
the  impress  of  their  genius  in  the  history  of  the  age  in  which 
they  nourished,  were  not  the  sons  of  gaunt  mothers  whose 
waists  resembled  the  middle  of  an  hour-glass. 

TRANSMISSION  OF  DEFECTS. 

Mothers  certainly  transmit  their  own  physical,  if  not  their 
moral  and  other  qualities  to  their  children.  A  feeble  organiza- 
tion is  perpetuated  through  successive  generations,  terminating 
at  last  in  the  extinction  of  a  family,  unless  there  is  a  revivifica- 
tion of  vital  force  by  an  intermixture  of  a  healthy  stock. 

Intermarrying  among  relations,  with  a  view  to  a  selfish  pur- 
pose of  keeping  estates  always  within  the  same  control,  or  from 
a  spirit  of  pride  that  looks  with  contempt  on  alliances  with 
other  blood  as  contamination,  cannot  be  sustained.  There 
must  be  crossings,  and  an  infusion  of  new  elements.  Utter 
extinction  of  a  family  may  safely  be  predicted  that  tolerates  no 
affinity  with  other  blood. 

Nature  asserts  the  law,  and,  if  not  respected,  a  race  cannot 
conceal  its  deterioration.  A  feeble  intellect,  supported  by  an 
imperfectly  developed  body,  is  a  notification  of  a  sovereign 
decree — the  disappearance  of  a  family — only  to  be  saved  by  the 
formation  of  new  relations  with  those  who  have  vitality  if  they 
have  not  property. 


62  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 


PEEDISPOSITIOK  TO  MALADIES. 

Competent  .medical  authority  has  decided  that  a  predis- 
position to  certain  maladies  are  transmissible  from  parents 
to  children.  Seeds  of  disease  may  remain  quiescent  many 
years,  and  then  suddenly  burst  out  into  destructive  activity. 
Changes  of  weather,  variations  of  temperature,  when  an 
individual  in  whom  they  may  exist  is  exposed,  together 
with  the  peculiar  susceptibility  of  such  persons,  produce 
slight  inflammatory  turgescence  of  the  mucous  membrane  of 
the  throat,  which,  creeping  down  to  the  interior  of  the  air- 
cells  of  the  lungs,  assumes  a  very  grave  aspect. 

The  next  phase  in  the  progress  of  incipient  pulmonary 
derangement  is  a  cough.  Purulent  matter  is  excreted  over 
the  bronchial  mucous  lining  of  the  air-tubes,  to  defend  them 
from  irritation  from  the  direct  contact  of  air  on  the  inflamed 
mucous  membrane.  Violence  in  the  attempt  to  raise  that 
matter,  which,  of  itself,  is  another  source  of  aggravation, 
from  its  weight, — the  thin  partitions  of  the  cells  are  often 
ruptured  by  spasmodic  paroxysms  of  coughing.  If  not  re- 
moved, the  accumulation,  remaining  in  a  mass,  ulcerates  the 
membranes,  and  pus  gravitates  downwards.  Abscesses  are 
formed.  Thus  the  integrity  of  the  whole  lobe  is  involved. 

Emaciations,  in  consequence  of  organic  derangement  and 
imperfect  oxygenation  of  the  blood,  is  the  result.  Debility 
marks  the  onward  destructive  progress  of  ulceration.  Neither 
tonics,  the  modification  of  diet,  or  a  change  of  climate,  can 
arrest  the  further  destruction  that  must  inevitably  terminate 
in  death,  when  the  mechanism  by  which  respiration  is  con- 
ducted is  destroyed. 

This   is   a  mechanical   delineation   of  the  phenomena   of 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  (J3 

induced  pulmonary  disease,  "by  violations  of  the  laws  of  health. 
Dress,  where  it  interferes  with  a  perfect  expansion  of  the 
lungs,  certainly  tends  to  the  shortening  of  life. 


NOT  CUEABLE. 

Pulmonary  consumption,  in  the  form  here  described,  can- 
not be  cured;  nor  can  it  be  much  relieved.  How  absurd 
then,  on  the  face  of  it,  to  fill  the  stomach  with  drugs,  with 
an  expectation  of  regenerating  parts  that  have  been  completely 
destroyed.  Nostrum-venders  thrive  by  the  sale  of  consump- 
tion-remedies, but  they  are  the  only  persons  benefited  by  their 
falsely-represented  panaceas. 

FURTHER  INTERVIEWING  OF  STAYS. 

Women  are  not  expected  to  lay  them  aside.  While  it 
is  universally  admitted  by  them  that  their  taste  is  superior 
to  nature,  stay  and  corset-making  will  be  a  profitable  branch 
of  manufacturing  business  in  coming  years. 

Why  do  not  boys  require  such  appliances?  Without 
them,  left  to  themselves,  they  grow  up  with  full,  rounded 
chests,  and  their  proportions  are  admirable.  Rare  examples 
of  feminine,  beardless  exquisites  in  stays  are  known  at 
fashionable  places,  the  straws  on  the  ripples  of  society,  but 
they  are  invariably  regarded  as  brainless  butterflies  who  are 
neither  men  in  character  nor  women  in  form. 

Criticisms  on  female  dress  are  not  the  outpourings  of 
an  envious  spirit,  when  they  emanate  from  professional 
writers.  Life  is  a  boon  so  precious,  they  fain  would  per- 
suade women  to  preserve  it,  and  not  sacrifice  it  to  the 
caprice  of  fashion. 


64  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

How  THEIR  DEESSES  SHOULD  BE 

Were  all  their  large  garments  suspended  from  the 
shoulders,  the  consequences  resulting  from  confining  them 
round  the  waist  with  the  grip  of  a  boa  constrictor  would 
be  obviated. 

In  addition  to  the  close-lacing  of  stays,  each  lower  garment 
is  bound  tightly  on,  over  the  same  region,  to  keep  them 
up.  This  is  all  wrong.  Closely-pinned  waists  of  petticoats, 
bands,  belts,  and  buckled  ribbons,  girdles,  or  straps,  posi- 
tively stand  with  firm  resistance  to  the  development  of  the 
base  of  the  chest.  So  it  is  perfectly  clear  without  a  labored 
dissertation,  that  the  mischief'  habitually  practised  to  the 
positive  injury  of  the  whole  internal  economy  of  the  female 
body,  might  be  avoided  by  simply  suspending  garments  from 
the  shoulders. 

Yery  young  children  are  thus  dressed,  a  mode  only  to  be 
abandoned  before  the  bones  of  the  chest  begin  to  ossify  at 
their  distal  extremities.  Moral  and  mental  circumstances  in 
a  little  girl's  every-day  life  are  overlooked,  comparatively, 
in  the  effort  to  improve  their  forms. 

Of  the  amount  of  disturbance  produced  in  the  basin  of  the 
pelvis  by  constantly  tying  on  garments,  a  detailed  description  is 
given  in  the  lecture-room  where  diseases  of  women  are  ex- 
plained. It  is  difficult  to  popularize  the  subject,  and  that  is  one 
of  the  reasons  no  more  progress  has  been  made  in  revolution- 
izing their  costume.  If  a  cord  were  daily  wound  around  the 
body  just  above  the  hips,  the  bowels  would  be  forced  down- 
wards, interfering  with  another  set  of  organs.  That  is  the 
true  cause  of  a  painful  catalogue  of  maladies  to  which  women 
are  incident.  Displacements  cannot  be  inflicted  without 
suffering  and  real  danger.  Multitudes  of  females  reach  an 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  65 

advanced  age  who'  have  survived  the  misfortunes  entailed 
upon  those  who  possessed  less  tenacity  of  life,  from  being 
subjected  to  the  ligating  discipline  of  the  waist.  But  that 
is  no  valid  reason  for  continuing  a  practice  so  destructive  in 
its  tendencies. 


PKOOF  BY  ANALOGY. 

Some  men  escape  injury  in  severe  battles,  where  the 
ground  is  strewn  with  the  dead  and  the  dying.  Is  that  a 
proof  that  others  might  escape  also,  exposed  to  showers  of 
flying  balls?  "Where  one  woman,  apparently,  has  had  no 
inconvenience  from  a  diminished  waist,  more  than  one  hun- 
dred have  died. 

The  weight  of  heavy  clothing  suspended  from  the  shoul- 
ders is  not  as  burdensome  as  when  suspended  from  above 
the  hips.  Still,  with  that  fact  before  them,  ladies  have  made 
no  alteration  in  their  mode  of  dressing.  It  is  a  favorite  way 
of  demonstrating  the  looseness  of  their  garments  about  the 
waist,  that  their  fingers  can  be  pushed  under  their  belt. 

That  is  quite  possible,  but  the  extreme  ligation  is  in  the 
girded  skirts  that  are  worn,  pinned,  or  buttoned  as  closely  as 
they  can  be  drawn. 

Brigades  of  physicians  thrive  professionally,  because  women 
persist  in  making  themselves  sick.  Specialists  find  their  com- 
plaints a  profitable  field  for  culture.  Female  doctors,  too, 
have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  advantage  they  possess  in  gain- 
ing the  confidence  of  their  own  sex,  by  turning  their  folly  to 
good  pecuniary  account. 

Oriental  females  keep  their  garments  in  place  by  a  scarf  or 
shawl,  according  to  their  means.  Their  trowsers,  immensely 
large,  soft  and  pliable,  are  easy  for  the  limbs,  and  graceful  in 


66  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

appearance.  They,  however,  are  by  no  means  exempt  from 
contingencies  which  belong  to  girding  the  waist.  Although 
pretty  severely  ligated,  they  are  not  injured  in  the  same  way 
that  civilized  women  suffer.  If  they  were  as  energetically  in- 
dustrious, they  would  be  equally  exposed.  Their  habitual  in- 
dolence, especially  the  higher  classes  of  ladies,  the  stars  of  the 
harem,  is  favorable  for  them.  They  have  no  chairs,  but  recline 
on  elastic  cushions.  Were  they  obliged  to  exert  themselves  in 
lifting  or  carrying  heavy  children  in  their  arms,  they  could  not 
escape  those  mechanical  displacements  which  are  intimated, 
without  being  specifically  described  in  these  observations. 

With  them,  their  scarfs  are  not  quite  as  terrible  as  stays. 
Instead  of  compressing  the  base  of  the  chest,  Turkish  ladies 
make  the  ligation  lower.  They  spare  the  lungs,  but  in  stooping 
or  rising  suddenly,  they  are  frequently  ruptured.  The  bowels 
are  forced  to  a  point  of  least  resistance, — the  groins,  where  her- 
nial  protrusions  are  common. 


HER^IAL  PROTRUSIONS,  HOW  PRODUCED. 

Greek  women  have  more  freedom ;  and  engaging  in  domestic 
pursuits  of  all  kinds,  in  consequence  of  keeping  their  clothing 
together,  precisely  as  their  Turkish  sisters  do,  they  are  exten- 
sively and  badly  ruptured.  Perhaps  no  country  in  the  world 
furnishes  an  equal  number  of  ruptured  women. 

Women  are  subject  to  indispositions  peculiar  to  their  organ- 
izations, which  may  be  made  worse  by  neglect,  or  perpetuated 
by  continued  violence,  however  gradually  inflicted.  On  the 
whole,  leaving  Nature  to  herself,  the  sexes  possess  equal  advan- 
tages for  health  and  longevity. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  ff 

SIMPLICITY  IK  DRESS  SECURITY  FOR  HEALTH. 

Permit  little  girls  to  pass  their  youth  untrammelled  by  gar- 
ments that  would  either  compress,  or  in  the  least  degree  inter- 
fere with  the  chest  or  abdomen. 

Distortions  of  the  pelvis  would  be  avoided  by  providing 
suitable  seats  at  school,  and  also  at  home.  !Nb  bone  can  be 
pressed  out  of  line  without  interfering  with  some  function  that 
sooner  or  later  may  be  a  source  of  suffering  or  sickness. 

While  learning  to  write,  their  positions  should  be  frequently 
varied.  If  they  habitually  sit  in  the  same  place,  taking  the 
same  posture,  there  is  danger  of  swaying  one  shoulder  or  warp- 
ing it  to  one  side.  Young  girls  are  more  prone  to  have  their 
shoulders  distorted  than  boys.  The  latter  are  nervously  using 
all  their  muscles,  especially  those  of  the  arms,  which  secure 
symmetry  to  their  shoulders.  Girls  are  restrained  from  playing 
ball,  climbing  trees,  or  engaging  in  exercises  that  force  the 
muscles  of  the  spine  to  extra  action.  If  girls  are  left  too  long 
at  the  desk,  one  set  of  muscles  relax,  while  the  other  set  are 
kept  too  long  contracted,  inducing  weariness.  Curvatures  of 
the  spine  have  their  origin  in  not  sufficiently  varying  the  pos- 
tures they  fall  into  by  occupying  the  same  seat,  the  same  desk, 
or  receiving  light  from  the  same  direction  always. 

"Where  a  scrofulous  habit  exists,  there  should  be  even  greater 
caution  in  varying  the  position  often.  Narrow  chests,  a  breast- 
bone pressed  inwardly  at  its  lower  end — two  sad  conditions — 
may  be  avoided  by  the  simple  process  of  having  the  books  on  a 
high  desk,  which  would  compel  the  pupil  to  sit  up  straight. 

With  these  statements  and  recapitulations  of  what  parents 
and  instructors  should  do  to  secure  the  health,  vigor,  and  beauty 
of  young  girls,  it  is  not  pretended  that  perfect  success  will 
crown  their  efforts.  Some  of  the  most  faultless  in  form  die 


68  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

prematurely ;  but  that  they  are  wronged  out  of  vitality  they 
might  have  had,  treated  as  boys  are,  in  respect  to  clothing  and 
out-door  exercise,  is  mournfully  true  and  lamentable.* 


*  In  those  pane  of  France  in  which  stays  have  been  laid  aside  as  injurious, 
it  is  stated  the  mortality  of  females  has  decreased  eighteen  and  a-half  per 
cent.  According  to  the  same  authority,  chignons  increased  cerebral  fevers 
seventy-two  per  cent. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
EXEKCISE  OF  WOMEN. 

FEET  were  intended  for  use,  yet  there  are  women  quite  un- 
willing to  exercise  them  in  any  other  way  than  dancing.  Some 
scarcely  feel  able  to  walk  from  a  dressing-room  to  a  dinner- 
table  after  completing  an  elaborate  toilet.  Elegant  idleness 
cannot  be  persuaded  that  it  is  not  vulgar  to  move  about  on 
one's  feet.  Airing  in  a  carriage  is  genteel  and  without 
fatigue. 

Anybody  can  walk  who  is  not  a  cripple,  but  all  cannot  ride. 
It  is  charming  to  take  a  pleasant  drive,  provided  the  weather  is 
perfectly  agreeable.  Greeting  choice  friends  from  the  windows 
of  a  splendid  coach,  in  passing,  is  infinitely  superior  to  plodding 
along  on  foot  at  the  risk  of  rude  contact  with  disagreeable 
people  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  good  breeding. 

An  apprehension  of  damp  feet  by  touching  mother  earth,  is 
a  common  excuse  for  not  promenading  like  those  who  never 
owned  an  equipage.  The  susceptibility  to  cold  is  quite  surpris- 
ing with  some  ladies  who  could  once  trip  through  the  wet  grass 
when  they  resided  in  their  country  homes  with  impunity. 
Moonbeams  become  too  ponderous  for  their  fragile  nerves  since 
coming  to  the  city  and  into  the  magic  circle  of  fashionable 
exactions. 

There  are  occasions,  notwithstanding  such  acquired  delicacy 
as  passes  for  an  unequivocal  sign  of  social  elevation,  when  even 
such  zephyr-like  humanity  rises  in  the  dignity  of  heroic  resolu- 
tion, to  mingle  with  the  world  in  crowded  assemblies,  waltz  all 


70  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

night  for  charitable  purposes,  retiring  at  daylight  the  following 
morning,  satisfied  with  themselves  in  having  discharged  a  relig- 
ious duty. 

If  it  is  too  fatiguing  to  trudge  on  foot  like  servants,  how 
much  more  to  ascend  long  flights  of  stairs,  unless  they  lead  to 
the  exquisitely  furnished  apartments  of  a  friend.  In  their  own 
dwellings  they  are  not  unfrequently  carried  in  a  chair  or  borne 
in  the  coachman's  brawny  arms  from  the  doorstep  to  a  carriage. 

EXTKEME  DELICACY. 

It  kills  some  ladies,  in  court  language,  to  exercise  in  any- 
ordinary  manner.  This  is  a  common  complaint  of  very  sensi- 
tive beings  who  were  once  chambermaids  or  milliners.  To 
appear  perfectly  well  is  to  acknowledge  themselves  rather  ple- 
beian. In  their  early  days,  glowing  with  freshness,  vigor,  and 
the  best  elements  of  a  sound  constitution,  it  was  the  good  for- 
tune of  many  who  now  converse  most  about  remedies  to  have 
captivated  a  prosperous  groceryman,  a  thrifty  tailor,  or  the  rich 
son  of  a  retired  leather-dealer,  who  was  accepted  as  a  lesser  evil 
than  remaining  at  service.  Exchanging  a  cot  in  the  garret  to 
become  mistress  of  an  elegant  establishment  on  an  avenue,  is 
not  to  be  despised.  Their  husbands  pursue  the  tenor  of  their 
ways,  multiplying  goods  and  chattels,  and  becoming  million- 
aires, while  their  wives  develop  into  model  patients,  patrons  of 
music,  the  drama,  art,  select  dinners,  the  opera,  and  tract-distri- 
butions to  the  poor. 

Before  marriage  thus  advantageously  secured,  every  close 
observer  has  known  spirited  young  wives  who  could  once  run 
from  the  basement  to  the  skylight  without  complaining.  Now 
cologne  out  of  a  phial  would  not  revive  their  exhausted  spirits. 
A  few  years  of  technical  luxury,  surrounded  and  enveloped  in 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  Yl 

comforts  and  elegancies  to  which  they  were  unaccustomed  in 
the  elastic  days  of  youth,  they  decline  to  an  abyss  of  chronic 
indolence. 

MUST  EXERCISE  FREELY. 

The  less  we  use  ourselves,  the  more  rapidly  we  deteriorate. 
When  muscles  remain  inactive,  they  lose  their  tonicity.  They 
cannot  be  strengthened  by  taking  drugs,  but  by  proper  exercise. 
Pedestrians  derive  advantages  from  facing  the  breezes,  and 
communing  with  nature  in  the  open  highway,  which  the  occu- 
pant of  a  carriage  does  not  receive  so  advantageously.  Her 
locomotive  cordage  is  at  rest  while  riding.  The  walker  puts  all 
the  contracted  fibres  of  his  body  in  motion  at  the  same  moment, 
and,  therefore,  every  organ  feels  the  impulse,  and  is  benefited 
accordingly,  because  there  is  an  increased  activity  in  the  circu- 
lation and  the  secretions  and  exhalant  vessels. 

No  form  of  exercise  has  been  pursued  which  is  productive 
of  health-giving  vigor,  to  be  compared  with  habitual  prome- 
nading on  foot,  regardless  of  weather  or  season. 

If  men  delight  and  enjoy  pleasant  walks,  why  should  not 
women  ?  Alternately  balancing  the  weight  of  the  body  on 
one  foot  and  then  on  the  other,  brings  every  muscle  to  its  full 
bearing.  Each  one  of  them  has  an  antagonist,  and  thus 
tension  and  relaxation  create  a  demand  for  nutrition,  propor- 
tioned to  the  force  they  may  be  called  upon  to  exert.  An 
appetite  is  created  to  meet  the  wants  of  each  and  every 
tissue  ;  and  in  providing  for  a  hungry  stomach,  we  simply  feed 
each  one  of  those  muscular  threads  which  assisted  us  in 
stepping  off  briskly. 

Without  appetite,  strength  fails,  temperature  diminishes — 
the  extremities  being  cold — and  direct  debility  is  the  next 
condition.  Every  limb,  or  section  of  one,  may  have  its  form 


72  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

increased  simply  by  exercising  it.  Insufficient  food  reduces 
vital  force.* 

Bearing  burdens,  hauling  ropes,  working  at  a  pump-handle, 
lifting  kettles  from  a  range,  swinging  a  broom,  etc.,  gives  the 
female  cook  beautifully  rounded  arms,  the  envy  of  her  mis- 
tress, whose  bony  apologies  for  arms  cannot  be  made  attractive, 
even  encased  in  diamond  bracelets.  Dancing  develops  the 
lower  limbs.  Riding  on  horseback  brings  out  the  full  propor- 
tions of  the  chest  and  abdomen,  but  does  not  round  up  the 
muscles  of  the  legs  like  walking.  Ladies  do  not  reap  as  much 
benefit  from  that  exercise  as  men ;  because  only  one  limb  has 
opportunity  for  bracing,  while  the  former  press  equally  on 
the  stirrup  with  both  feet. 

Next  to  walking,  a  bracing  morning-ride  on  horseback  is 
incomparably  superior  to  an  airing  in  a  carriage.  Efforts  are 
unconsciously  made  on  the  saddle  in  maintaining  a  perpen- 
dicular position.  That  is  what  calls  out  an  extra  effort  of  the 
muscles,  and  hence  they  increase  in  size  and  power.  When 
a  lady  drives  out  for  the  purpose  of  refreshing  her  debilitated 
system,  simply  inhaling  the  fresh  air  does  not  accomplish  for 
her  all  that  an  uiicontaminated  atmosphere  certainly  would  do, 
were  her  muscles  set  in  active  motion  at  the  same  time. 

As  boat-rowing  is  wonderfully  conducive  to  a  broad, 
rounded  chest,  we  are  surprised  that  it  has  not  been  urged 
upon  narrow-chested,  feeble,  consumptively-inclined  young 
ladies.  They  would  realize  all  the  sanitary  advantages  from 
an  elegant  and  extremely  popular  gymnastic  exercise,  that 


*  Four  of  the  wealthiest  gentlemen  in  the  city  of  New  York,  dis- 
tinguished for  their  millions,  dined  together  the  last  Sabbath  of  June,  1871. 
They  were  famishing  for  want  of  appetite.  The  rich  viands  were  scarcely 
tasted.  If  each  lived  on  sixpence  a  day,  and  earned  it  by  labor,  they  would 
not  have  complained  of  want  of  appetite. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  73 

those  do  who  figure  in  clubs  and  rowing-matches.  They 
present  the  finest-formed  chests  and  the  best  breathing 
apparatus  of  any  class  of  men. 

A  hint  might  be  taken  from  the  pursuits  of  professional 
bargemen.  They  have  prodigiously  large,  fully-developed 
chests.  Diseased  lungs  in  their  calling  must  be  rare.  With 
these  views,  the  result  of  carefully  surveying  the  tendency  to 
invigorate  the  pectoral  muscles  and  expand  the  thorax  by 
handling  oars,  we  strongly  recommend  boating  for  ladies  of 
the  description  referred  to  in  these  observations  on  exercise. 
They  might  count  upon  having  splendidly-rounded  arms  by 
that  graceful  amusement,  and  improved  chests,  if  they  would 
be  sure  to  remove  their  stays  before  seating  themselves  at  the 
rowlocks. 

A  side-saddle  is  very  well,  as  far  as  it  goes  ;  but  inferior  to 
the  man-saddle,  inasmuch  as  the  bracing  is  made  exclusively 
by  one  foot,  as  already  mentioned. 

NUTKITION". 

Nutrition  of  the  body  is  a  very  interesting  subject,  not 
generally  understood,  although  a  very  frequent  topic  of  con- 
versation among  those  knowing  the  least  about  it.  How  few 
comprehend  the  phenomena  of  digestion.  "When  food  falls 
into  the  stomach,  it  is  lost  sight  of,  in  the  ordinary  way  of 
speaking.  At  that  point  a  series  of  vital  activities  and  changes 
commences,  that  have  given  rise  to  researches  of  peculiar 
interest. 

While  an  animal  is  growing,  it  is  taken  for  granted  that 
food  furnishes  materials  for  completing  that  process.  When 
full  proportions  are  attained,  the  body  is  apparently  stationary ; 
but,  by  eating  and  drinking,  materials  are  furnished  for  keep- 


74  THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN. 

ing  it  in  repair.  A  waste  all  the  while  is  going  on.  If  that 
daily  wear  and  tear  were  not  met  by  a  new  supply,  there 
would  be  immediate  loss  of  weight  and  immediate  debility. 

Now  comes  into  view  the  economy  of  nature,  by  which 
appropriate  elements  are  elaborated  from  food  in  that  mem- 
braneous bag — the  stomach — which  are  floated  along  in  tubes 
to  places  where  new  matter  is  required  to  take  the  place  of  old 
substance  which  has  just  been  removed. 

Arteries  may  be  compared  to  canals,  through  the  aid  of 
which  freighted  boats  carry  every  imaginable  product  of  the 
country  for  meeting  the  necessities  of  the  people. 

Blood  runs  through  these  vessels,  in  which  there  is  held  in 
solution  whatever  is  required — such  as  lime,  glue,  phosphorus, 
etc.,  too  numerous  to  mention — which  is  carried  to  the  re- 
motest fibre,  where  each  takes  up  what  it  needs,  and  no  more ; 
and  whatever  remains,  after  being  thus  selected  from,  passes 
on  to  other  stations,  where  freight  is  discharged,  according  to 
the  demands  of  the  body. 

The  mechanical  part  of  digestion  is  simply  this.  After 
being  reduced  to  a  greyish  pulp  in  the  stomach,  by  being  mixed 
with  a  variety  of  .products  which  have  their  origin  in  glands, 
food  gradually  enters  the  intestinal  canal,  a  thin,  strong,  curi- 
ously constructed  tube,  about  six  times  the  length  of  the  indi- 
vidual. In  childhood  it  is  nearly  eight  times  the  length  of  the 
body. 

LACTEAL  VESSELS. 

From  the  descending  mass  of  food  urged  through  the  intes- 
tinal tube  by  its  contractions  from  above,  a  milky  fluid  is 
formed  called  chyle.  On  the  inner  surface  of  the  long  tube 
are  millions  of  minute  openings  of  hair-like  tubes  which  ter- 
minate in  fleshy  masses  of  different  sizes,  lying  between  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  Y5 

duplication  of  mesentery.  Those  little  orifices  snck  up  the 
chyle  as  it  passes  by,  and  convey  it  to  the  mesenteric  glands. 
It  remains  in  them  but  a  short  time,  when  it  goes  out  through 
another  set  of  minute  tubes  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  gland,  to 
be  conveyed  to  a  small  white  tube  lying  in  contact  with  the 
back-bone,  known  as  the  thoracic  duct.  In  its  exit  from  the 
gland,  probably  something  is  added,  or  some  chemical  alteration 
takes  place  that  improves  its  quality. 

The  thoracic  duct  ascends  by  the  side  of  the  vertebrae,  not 
much  larger  than  a  wheat-straw,  till  it  reaches  the  root  of  the 
neck,  where  it  curves  and  enters  the  jugular  vein  of  the  left 
side. 

How  THE  BLOOD  is  PRODUCED  FROM  FOOD. 

« 

At  the  angle,  the  white  fluid  produced  in  the  bowels,  the 
essence  of  food,  as  it  were,  mingles  with  venous  blood.  The 
current  of  blood  and  chyle  mingling  runs  across  the  top  of  the 
chest  just  back  of  the  breast-bone,  and  empties  into  the  right 
auricle  or  upper  chamber  of  the  heart. 

As  soon  as  that  apartment  is  full,  the  walls  contract  and 
force  the  contents  through  a  round  opening  into  the  next  cav- 
ity, the  ventricle,  which  contracts  and  drives  the  fluid  onward 
through  the  pulmonary  artery  into  the  lungs.  That  great  ves- 
sel subdivides  in  the  substance  of  the  lungs,  infinitely,  into  fine 
branching  vessels,  where  each  air-cell  receives  a  twig  that 
spreads  around  it  like  net-work. 

Air  is  next  inhaled,  inflating  those  cells,  and  in  the  act  of 
inflation,  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  comes  in  contact  with 
the  newly  arrived  fluid,  spread  like  a  film  around  the  cell.  At 
the  same  moment,  carbonic  acid  is  thrown  off.  The  imbiba- 
tion  of  oxygen  changes  the  mixture  of  old  and  new  blood — 
which  arrived  together,  as  described  in  the  jugular,  into  a  rich 


76  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

scarlet  color.  It  is  then  a  vitalized  fluid,  arterial  blood,  and 
ready  for  general  distribution  by  the  contractile  energy  of  the 
left  side  of  the  heart. 

Effete  matter,  that  which  remained  in  the  system  till  it  had 
imparted  all  its  serviceable  properties,  is  evacuated.  Thus  an 
explanation  of  the  reason  for  eating  and  drinking  is  made  plain 
enough  for  the  comprehension  of  a  child. 

OUT-DOOE  EXERCISES. 

Exercise  accompanied  by  pleasurable  emotions,  as  from  the 
view  of  verdant  fields,  mountain  scenery,  flowers,  or  refined 
social  intercourse,  is  eminently  calculated  to  sustain  and  im- 
•  prove  our  health.  It  should  be  encouraged  by  those  having 
the  care  of  children.  Public  teachers  should  give  it  their 
approval.  In  all  institutions,  educational  especially,  frequent 
opportunities  should  be  given '  pupils  for  free  out-door  contact 
with  the  air,  regardless  of  the  season.  Air  was  designed  for 
breathing.  Those  who  have  the  privilege  of  being  exposed  to 
it  most,  will  appreciate  its  sanitary  value. 

Laborers  have  a  compensation  for  their  toil  beyond  a  pay- 
ment in  money,  in  the  sound  condition  of  their  bodies.  They 
are  not  always  under  the  doctor's  care.  '  They  have  no  fear  of 
an  east  wind,  the  dampness  of  a  napkin,  a  hard-boiled  egg. 
They  neither  have  dyspepsia  or  go  to  the  White  Sulphur  Springs 
on  account  of  ailments  generated  by  idleness.  "Women  above 
industry,  gently  driven  in  a  close  coach,  lest  a  ray  of  light 
should  imprint  a  bronze  hue  on  their  pallid  cheeks,  envy  the  mar- 
ket woman,  strong,  hearty,  and  well,  unconcerned  about  the 
shade  of  silk,  or  the  lace  trimmings  to  be  worn  at  the  next  opera. 
Being  used  and  not  used,  are  very  different  conditions.  Not 
only  health,  but  even  the  length  of  the  thread  of  life  are  deter- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  ff 

mined  by  the  use  or  the  neglect  of  our  various  powers.  Pur- 
suits which  put  the  long  muscles,  as  those  of  the  back,  chest, 
abdomen,  and  extremities  into  frequent  action,  are  most  con- 
ducive to  continued  good  health. 

Having  particularized  the  benefits  to  be  realized  from  horse- 
back exercise,  it  will  be  found  that  those  on  foot  gain  more  than 
riders.  They  are  longer-lived,  and  are  freer  from  attacks  of 
disease,  either  acute  or  chronic. 

Peasants  in  Europe,  and  females  of  the  humble  orders  in 
Oriental  countries,  who  carry  heavy  jars  of  water  on  their  heads, 
make  no  complaint.  Each  and  every  muscle  is  brought  into  a 
taste  of  tension  in  the  act  of  balancing  burdens  thus  transported. 
They  are  exempt  from  spinal  difficulties,  being  subject  neither 
to  dropsical  effusions,  spinal  irritation,  incurvations  or  curies  of 
their  bones. 

KEMEDYING  DISTORTIONS. 

An  orthopedic  institution,  which  copies  the  Nilotic  water- 
girls,  requiring  fragile  female  patients  to  support  weights  in  the 
same  manner,  instead  of  requiring  them  to  pass  hours  on  an  in- 
clined plane,  and  the  remainder  of  the  day  to  be  imprisoned  in 
stiff,  unyielding  apparatus,  would  succeed  far  more  satisfactorily 
than  in  the  old  way  of  going  counter  to  the  best  indications  of 
JSTature.  A  weight  on  the  head  would  immediately  call  into 
play  the  dorsal  muscles,  which  would  increase  in  volume  and 
strength  with  repetitions.  Strapping  frail,  slender,  imperfectly- 
developed  girls,  as  commonly  practised,  to  boards,  a  hard  bed, 
or  lacing  them  in  metallic  corslets,  with  an  expectation  that  a 
distortion  is  to  be  overcome  by  it,  is  entirely  wrong.  Gradually 
bringing  into  use  neglected  apparatus,  as  muscles  of  the  back, 
chest,  arms,  etc.,  and  with  appropriate  attention  to  diet,  relief 
may  be  reasonably  expected.  Tonics  will  not  give  the  wished- 
for  relief,  unaccompanied  by  exercise. 


78  THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN. 

Young  ladies  of  a  lymphatic  temperament,  not  disposed  to 
exert  themselves  beyond -what  may  be  perfectly  agreeable,  who 
delight  in  lounging  away  the  precious  hours  of  opening  life  on 
elastic  couches,  or  languishingly  reclining  in  a  luxurious  coach, 
for  an  occasional  airing,  when  the  weather  is  unexceptionably  fine, 
receive  but  little  advantage  from  scientific  treatment,  when  dis- 
torted, simply  on  account  of  the  extreme  tenderness  with  which 
institutions  treat  them. 

Scrofulous,  sallow,  indolent,  lachrymose,  sentimental  ladies, 
whose  circumstances  are  ample  enough  to  warrant  them  in 
gently  descending  to  the  grave  in  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance 
of  fashion,  would  not  submit  to  such  manipulations  as  might 
turn  the  shadow  a  few  degrees  back  on  the  dial  of  life. 

SOCIAL  PHASES. 

Condition  modifies  circumstances.  Some-  are  unhappy  be- 
cause they  cannot  compass  unreasonable  projects;  and  others 
complain  of  being  wretched  on  account  of  neglected  claims  to 
social  position.  A  disgust  of  life  is  not  an  unfrequent  apology 
for  suicidal  acts,  which  are  charitably  imputed  to  derangement 
of  mind  consequent  upon  ill-health.  There  may  be  a  form  of 
mental  depression  that  so  lowers  the  vital  mercury  as  to  make  it 
appear  easier  to  die  than  live  in  neglect  or  hopeless  uncertainty 
of  ever  being  appreciated. 

There  is  another  order  of  female  despondents  who  are 
socially  miserable  by  mistake,  entertaining  an  idea  they  have 
not  all  an  ungrateful  world  ought  to  give  them,  while  they  are 
revelling  in  the  midst  of  phantoms  and  vanities.  In  a  moment 
of  desperation  they  swallow  a  dose  of  opium  and  slumber  into 
eternity.  This  is  a  woman's  way  in  distraction.  Men  blow  out 
their  brains  with  a  revolver,  or  with  a  razor  tap  their  jugulars. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  79 

Ladies  in  poor  health,  who  cannot  be  miraculously  relieved 
—the  broken-hearted  from  unrequited  love,  victims  of  dissipa- 
tion and  the  ignorant,  who  conceive  themselves  of  more  im- 
portance than  others  admit,  those  who  are  always  trying  new 
remedies  from  irresponsible  sources,  certified  to  by  persons 
whose  word  is  worth  no  more  than  their  bond,  those  who  con- 
sult quacks,  have  the  blue  devils,  and  refuse  to  be  comforted, 
and  require  watching,  there  being  a  suicidal  tendency — would 
each  and  all  of  them  receive  permanent  relief  from  regular 
employment,  coarse  nutritious  food,  and  daily  walks  that  would 
invite  sleep  from  fatigue,  instead  of  taking  medicine  or  consult- 
ing clairvoyants. 

WOMEN  OF  ENERGY. 

Hardy,  resolute,  energetic  women,  who  rarely  ride,  re- 
quire no  medical  a3sistance,  mineral  water,  or  soothing  com- 
positions. It  is  so  common  and  perfectly  genteel  to  be  most  of 
the  time  an  invalid,  that  it  operates  very  unfavorably  for  the 
prospects  of  those  who  imagine  it  gives  them  an  interesting 
appearance  in  the  estimation  of  sensible  men.  They  are  unwil- 
ling to  open  a  private  hospital  in  entering  upon  the  responsi- 
bilities of  matrimony. 

Robust,  clear-complexioned  women  are  not  usually  natives 
of  cities.  Those  who  have  the  true  elements  of  that  kind  of 
womanhood  which  will  best  sustain  them  in  city  life,  are  trans- 
ferred from  the  country.  They  bring  with  them  a  stock  of 
vitality  which  resists  the  effects  of  a  vitiated  atmosphere  and 
the  debilitations  of  luxury,  rather  longer  than  those  "to  the 
manor  born." 

But  warm  apartments,  coal  fires,  gas  lights,  late  hours,  rich 
food,  strong  coffee,  and  the  pride  of  wealth,  wear  upon  them 
after  awhile.  "Women  in  health  are  the  hope  of  a  nation.  Men 


80  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN 

who  excercise  a  controlling  influence — the  master  spirits — with 
a  few  exceptions,  have  had  country-born  mothers.  They  trans- 
mit to  their  sons  those  traits  of  character — moral,  intellectual, 
and  physical — which  give  stability  to  institutions  and  promote 
order,  security,  and  justice.  When  there  have  been  remarkable 
deviations  from  this  law  of  descent,  the  mothers  of  city  nota- 
bilities, in  whom  talent  has  been  the  lever  of  eminent  success, 
had  opportunities  for  alternating  between  town  and  the  life- 
bestowing  country. 

City-born  women,  affected  by  morbid  desires  and  corporeal 
deterioration,  jealously  reared  within  those  centres  of  exclusive- 
ness  which  know  neither  merit,  accomplishments,  nor  respect- 
ability, not  supported  on  all  sides  by  golden  props,  cannot  boast 
of  the  superiority  of  their  children.  An  influx  of  pure  blood 
from  the  country,  to  replenish  languid  fountains  in  cities,  is 
the  salvation  of  a  family. 

From  whence  came  those  ladies  who  are  pillars  in  the  temple 
of  Christian  benevolence  ?  From  whence  come  the  men  of 
mark  in  these  United  States?  From  the  country.  None  of 
them  were  born  in  a  brown-stone  palace.  Such  structures  were 
erected  by  enterprising  capitalists  who  commenced  their  career 
in  market  stalls,  jobbing  shops,  before  the  mast,  or  possibly  in 
an  oyster  house.  A  widow's  son,  or  an  orphan  boy,  who  left 
his  village  home  in  search  of  employment,  are  those  who  build 
cities,  control  commerce,  erect  factories,  sustain  themselves  in 
places  of  honor,  and  are  a  credit  to  the  age. 

DEVELOPING  A  SOUND  FEMALE  CONSTITUTION. 

A  decided  way  for  receiving  a  permanent  benefit  from 
mineral  springs,  is  to  visit  them  on  foot,  without  reference  to 
distance.  Those  who  might  receive  some  advantage  from 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  31 

reputed  medicinal  waters,  are  generally  unable,  from  want  of 
means,  to  remain,  were  they  to  reach  them.  Physicians  assure 
us  that  poor  women  have  fewer  complaints  requiring  profes- 
sional treatment,  than  those  who  are  exempt  from  constant  toil. 
They  have  occasional  chronic  ailments,  and  suffer  from  inci- 
dental exposures  and  accidents ;  but  more  women  in  comfortable 
circumstances  are  sick  than  might  be  expected,  as  an  impression 
is  entertained  that  domestic  comforts  are  safeguards  against 
indisposition.  How  much  of  it  is  to  be  charged  to  perverse 
habits,  excesses  at  table,  and  a  derangement  of  the  system  from 
having  too  much  assistance  in  doing  what  they  should  have 
done  for  themselves,  may  be  found  in  the  writings  of  plain- 
spoken  physicians. 

Allow  young  girls  free,  open,  out-door  exercise  in  their  pas- 
times and  romping  frolics,  according  to  their  disposition  for 
such  active  gambols.  Give  them  good,  plain  food,  especially 
milk,  fresh  vegetables,  and  fruits  of  all  kinds,  in  unstinted 
abundance.  Do  not  limit  their  appetites.  When  they  have 
had  what  their  bodies  require,  they  have  had  enough,  but  not 
before.  In  loose  garments  and  opportunity  for  putting  in  play 
all  their  muscles,  they  exhaust  their  pent-up  accumulation  of 
animal  spirit,  which,  if  restrained  by  hackneyed  old  maxims, — 
that  it  is  unladylike  to  be  frank,  spirited,  and  alive,  they  will 
degenerate  into  dawdling  nonentities,  who  may  have  the  forms 
of  angels  without  their  attributes. 

Permit  young  girls,  without  reference  to  their  age,  to  run 
through  fields,  climb  over  fences,  swing  under  the  trees,  gather 
nuts  in  the  forest,  and  pick  berries  in  pastures,  if  they  incline 
to  do  so.  If  they  racket  through  the  hall,  overturn  chairs  or 
break  broom-handles,  in  their  innocent  sports,  they  are  laying  a 
sure  foundation  for  health,  elegant  figures,  blooming  cheeks, 
and  brilliant  intellects.  That  is  the  way  nature  proposes  to 


82  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

fashion  lovely  woman.  It  is  a  course  of  discipline  which  brings 
out  in  rich  perfection  graces  that  no  treasure  could  purchase. 

Exercise  which  results  from  the  pursuance  of  some  kind  of 
industry,  above  all,  should  be  warmly  encouraged,  as  being 
most  conducive  to  the  health  of  body  and  mind.  A  door  that 
is  always  closed  will  have  rusty  hinges,  and  creak  when  opened. 
Indolence  is  an  enemy  to  felicity.  Keep  busy,  therefore.  A 
wise  mother  will  find  employment  for  her  daughters.  If  they 
are  idle,  then  they  will  be  unhappy. 

Were  our  limbs  rarely  set  in  motion,  they  would  become 
thin  and  feeble.  The  skater's  leg's  increase  in  size  bv  the 

O  i/ 

service  imposed  upon  them.  If  the  brain  were  not  employed, 
poverty  of  thought  would  expose  the  neglect  of  that  organ  in 
exhibitions  of  ignorance.  Decay  follows  neglect,  and  neglected 
opportunities  cannot  be  retrieved.  Every  faculty  must  be 
exercised,  if  possible.  Effort  becomes  a  pleasure.  Progress 
and  prosperity  have  no  intimate  connection  with  pain  or 
misery.  Great  thinkers,  like  fleet  horses,  must  be  kept  in 
constant  training.  Great  things  are  not  achieved  by  main 
strength.  Occupation  is  one  of  the  first  elements  of  happiness. 
As  it  is  a  woman's  mission  to  smooth  the  rough  wrays  of  the 
world  by  the  influence  of  her  character,  the  power  she  wields 
is  strong  or  weak,  according  to  the  culture  she  has  received. 

Commence  seasonably,  then,  with  young  girls,  by  allowing 
them  all  possible  freedom,  not  inconsistent  with  purity  of 
heart.  The  best  gymnastic  school  for  them  is  all  over  the 
premises ;  and  when  their  bodies  have  taken  the  form  nature 
contemplated  in  their  organization — which  is  always  beautiful 
— then  teach  them  whatever  may  be  requisite  for  sustaining 
themselves  with  propriety,  dignity,  and  honor,  in  all  the  social 
relations  to  which  they  may  be  called. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

NERVOUS  SYSTEM  OF  WOMEN. 

Different  Nerves— Their  Functions — Anatomically  alike  in  both  Sexes— Old 
Age — Children  Nursed  by  Men — Arrest  of  Pulmonary  Consumption  by 
Lactation — Too  Much  Restraint — Exercise  Essential. 

FAMILIAR  as  medical  gentlemen  suppose  themselves  with 
the  structure  of  the  body,  a  woman's  instincts,  and  the  laws 
which  govern  her  nervous  system,  are  still  veiled  in  mystery, 
which  the  acuteness  of  physiological  research  has  not  cleared 
from  obscurities.  Assumptions  are  not  demonstrations.  The 
curtain  must  be  raised  higher  before  we  can  explain  phenomena 
which  belong  exclusively  to  female  life. 

Considered  as  an  animal,  man  is  not  affected  by  revolutions 
of  the  sun,  the  moon,  or  planets,  nor  have  conjunctions  had 
any  influence  over  his  organization. 

In  women,  on  the  contrary,  there  are  periodical  changes 
occurring  with  an  orderly  regularity  which  popular  opinion  sup- 
poses is  wholly  due  to  an  influence  of  the  moon,  far  off  as 
it  is.  Before  science  had  that  ascendency  it  now  has,  there  were 
such  precise  and  inexplicable  functions  performed  from  puberty 
to  about  the  fiftieth  year,  it  was  natural  enough  to  suppose  a 
power  in  the  sky  that  made  the  tide  rise  and  fall  twice  in 
twenty-four  hours,  also  moved  fluids,  wherever  they  were,  pro- 
portioned to  the  volume  upon  which  the  lunar  influence  was 
exerted. 

Whether  the  nervous  matter  is  fluid  or  solid,  within  the 
sheaths  called  nerves,  is  not  satisfactorily  settled.  Those 


84  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

flexible  white  cords,  from  the  size  of  a  pipe-stem  to  filaments 
too  attenuated  to  be  seen  without  a  magnifier,  and  which  reach 
every  fibre,  being  the  telegraphic  wires  through  which  volitions 
are  sent  from  the  brain,  and  through  which  sensations  from 
without  are  forwarded  to  the  soul,  have  their  origin  within  the 
head  and  upper  part  of  the  spinal  marrow. 

THE  BRAHST. 

Nerve-cords  are  precisely  alike  in  both  sexes,  have  the 
same  relative  locations,  and  sustain  the  same  office.  A  nerve 
in  a  female  arm  in  110  way  differs  in  composition  or  in  function 
from  a  similar  one  in  a  male  arm ;  yet  the  brain  of  a  woman 
differs  from  a  man's,  not  in  composition,  nor  in  the  proportions 
the  white  bears  to  the  gray  matter,  so  far  as  we  can  discover, 
but  in  its  manifestations.  There  is  a  difference  between  the 
two,  not  at  all  easy  of  explanation.  Side  by  side,  detached 
from  the  skulls,  it  would  be  impossible  to  decide  which  was 
the  male,  or  which  the  female  brain. 

Education  is  simply  a  development  of  the  faculties;  and 
when  the  process  is  conducted  precisely  alike  for  both  sexes, 
there  are  manifestations  totally  different,  which  have  their 
origin  from  impressions  made  exactly  from  the  same  sources. 
Therefore,  there  is  a  constitutional  endowment :  the  why  or  the 
wherefore  our  philosophy  fails  to  explain.  "Woman's  instincts 
differ  very  widely  from  man's.  She  is  naturally  more  reserved, 
more  moral,  and  more  sympathetic.  Their  thoughts,  their 
dreams,  and  the  activity  of  their  imaginations,  are  certainly 
influenced  by  the  same  agencies  which  leave  impressions  on  a 
man's  mind ;  still  she  has  neither  the  instincts  nor  the  charac- 
teristic impulses  of  man  in  the  concerns  of  ordinary  life. 

Whether  the  moon,  the  planet  Neptune,  the  seven  stars,  or 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  85 

the  whole  combined,  govern  the  fluids  in  a  woman's  body,  or 
unite  their  forces  with  those  of  the  heart,  it  would  not  be  wise 
to  discuss.  Certain  it  is,  physiology  has  further  room  for 
explanation  where  there  is  both  darkness  and  guessing,  rather 
than  light,  in  regard  to  the  nervous  system  of  women. 

The  structure  and  nervous  expansion  of  slender  twigs  set 
the  microscope  at  defiance.  Their  extreme  minuteness  cannot 
be  followed,  and,  therefore,  we  must  acknowledge  our  inability 
to  pursue  them. 

CURIOSITIES  OF  LIFE. 

When  the  age  of  child-bearing  is  past,  the  milk  ducts 
shrink  and  almost  wholly  disappear ;  but  they  may  be  revivi- 
fied by  simply  manipulating  the  nipple  occasionally  a  few  days. 
The  increase  of  blood  is  directed  to  the  partially  obliterated 
breasts,  and  the  erectile  tissue  receives  an  increased  influx  of 
nervous  exaltation.  By  allowing  a  nursing  babe  to  draw  upon 
the  dried-up  fountains,  the  functions  of  these  organs,  as  in  the 
vigor  of  youth,  will  be  reestablished.  Should  the  powers  of 
nursing  be  renewed  and  continued  at  regular  intervals  a  few  days, 
milk  will  be  secreted  abundantly.  Children  have  actually  been 
nursed  in  this  manner  by  aged  women,  who  were  fully  restored, 
in  that  particular,  to  the  prominent  conditions  of  maternity. 

It  will  be  conceded,  therefore,  that  there  are  mysteries  per- 
vading the  female  system,  when  such  phenomena  are  presented. 
Thus,  through  the  reflex  influence  of  extremely  minute  thoracic 
nerves,  a  lost  function  may  be  reestablished.  Glands  which 
have  been  dormant  for  years — the  sleep  of  old  age — yield  nour- 
ishment abounding  in  elements  which  are  the  appropriate  food 
of  an  infant,  out  of  which  its  solid  body  is  built  up  in  health, 
strength,  and  beautiful  proportions. 

Medical  books  furnish  the  case  of  a  poor  Italian  who  posi- 


86  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

tively  nursed  his  own  infant  seven  months,  on  milk  secreted  in 
his  own  breast.  For  the  purpose  of  quieting  the  starving 
babe,  whose  mother  had  just '  died,  the  afflicted  father,  unable 
to  provide  a  nurse  for  the  wailing  infant,  allowed  it  to  nestle  at 
his  flat,  hard  bosom,  which  was  instinctive  on  the  part  of  the 
little  famishing  sufferer,  where,  finding  a  rudimental  nipple,  it 
was  permitted  to  draw  upon  it  without  interruption.  It  quieted 
the  screaming  motherless  babe ;  and  the  father,  discovering  that 
it  was  an  easy  method  of  procuring  rest  for  himself  also,  offer- 
ed the  remedy  as  often  as  the  dependent  little  one  demanded 
it.  To  his  astonishment,  it  was  soon  found  that  milk  was  there, 
and  the  child  receiving  actual  nourishment.  For  seven  months 
he  officiated  in  the  capacity  of  a  wet-nurse  and  saved  it. 

Young  heifers  may  become  milch-cows,  precisely  in  the 
same  manner,  by  the  efforts  of  a  hungry  calf.  This  has  been 
resorted  to  for  gaining  time,  rather  than  patiently  wait  a  natu- 
ral process.  However,  it  ought  not  to  be  practised. 

About  forty  years  ago,  a  young  baby  in  Massachusetts  was 
accidentally  the  subject  of  neighborhood  sensation,  which 
would  have  been  a  valuable  contribution  to  a  medical  journal, 
had  it  not  been  for  a  fear  of  damaging  the  reputation  of 
both  the  living  and  the  dead,  because  it  would  be  difficult  to 
make  even  medical  men  believe  the  possibility  of  what  has 
since  been  fully  established  as  a  physiological  phenomenon ;  viz., 
that  lactation  may  be  induced  without  being  a  mother : — 

An  accomplished  young  woman  in  that  stage  of  wasting 
pulmonary  consumption  which  indicated  a  speedy  dissolution, 
such  was  the  severity  of  her  cough,  and  the  copiousness  of  her 
expectorations,  was  residing  in  the  family  of  a  married  sister, 
the  mother  of  a  babe  she  was  trying  with  considerable  difficulty 
to  wean.  Being  advised  to  leave  home  a  few  weeks — it  was 
thought  the  weaning  might  be  more  easily  accomplished  than 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  37 

while  she  was  continually  in  the  society  of  her  crying  child — 
the  mother  departed. 

The  first  night  after  her  departure,  the  moanings  and  un- 
ceasing crying  of  the  child  had  such  a  disturbing  effect  upon 
the  debilitated  aunt,  who  could  get  no  rest  in  sleep,  that  she 
begged  the  nurse  to  bring  it  to  her  bed,  suggesting  she  might 
succeed  better  in  quieting  the  poor  thing,  than  the  woman  in 
charge.  By  tender  attentions,  which  in  fact  consisted  in  folding 
it  to  her  bosom,  without  particularly  restraining  its  movements, 
and  falling  into  a  slumber  from  exhausting  efforts,  the  little 
visitor  found  a  pap.  On  awaking,  and  ascertaining  that  the 
infant  was  industriously  endeavoring  to  nurse,  she  removed  it. 
But  its  renewed  screams  induced  her  to  take  it  back  again,  and 
let  it  have  its  own  way. 

Thus,  day  after  day,  and  nights  particularly,  the  weaning 
babe  was  hushed  into  sweet  repose.  But  what  was  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  emaciated  invalid,  to  discover  she  was  not  only 
relieved  of  some  of  her  painful  difficulties,  the  cough  being  less 
severe,  her  appetite  improving,  and  the  child  thriving  on  a  full 
breast  of  milk ! 

A  mortifying  discovery  to  the  aunt  was  this  secretion,  and 
that  she  was  nursing  a  babe  seemed  miraculous.  On  consulting 
her  physician,  a  discreet,  philosophical  gentleman,  he  advised 
that  she  should  continue  the  course,  it  being  evident  she  was 
rapidly  improving  from  a  condition  of  prostration  quite  hopeless 
before  the  baby  was  taken  into  favor,  and  suggesting  the  possi- 
bility of  perfect  restoration  to  health,  if  the  pulmonary  irritation 
could  be  thus  favorably  subdued. 

With  encouraging  prospects,  and  obviously  improving 
rapidly,  an  event  occurred  that  blasted  the  expectations  of  the 
medical  attendant. 

On  the  return  of  the  mother,  unprepared  for  such  gratifying 


88  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

prospects  of  a  recently  almost  dying  sister,  and  astounded  at 
what  was  related  of  the  child,  it  began  to  be  whispered  mis- 
chievously, by  meddling  village  gossips,  that  the  putative  mother 
was  not  the  mother,  as  had  been  supposed,  but  that  the  innocent 
babe,  doing  so  well  for  itself,  was  actually  the  child  of  its 
reputed  aunt ! 

When  the  cruel  slander  reached  the  ears  of  the  sensitive 
patient,  the  shock  agitated  her  almost  beyond  pacification  by 
sympathizing  family  friends.  However,  she  resolutely  refused 
ever  to  receive  the  child  again,  much  as  she  loved  it.  Argu- 
ments and  appeals  were  alike  unavailing,  although  it  was  plainly 
explained  to  her  that  a  sudden  suppression  of  the  lactic  secretion 
would  seriously  damage  her  case.  Nothing  could  alter  her 
determination.  By  the  time  the  milk  disappeared  she  was  in 
the  grave,  a  victim  of  a  wounded  spirit. 

It  is  not  certain  that  the  young  lady  would  have  finally  re- 
covered, for,  as  has  been  already  shown,  where  the  structure  of 
organs  essential  to  life  are  destroyed,  new  ones  cannot  be  re- 
generated. But  violence  of  symptoms  may  be  abated,  and  life 
very  considerably  prolonged,  even  when  the  lungs  have  been 
extensively  ulcerated,  and  abscesses  formed  in  the  body  of 
the  lobes. 

DOMAIN  OF  ORGANIC  SYMPATHY. 

There  is  an  unfathomable  sympathy  existing  between  the 
pelvic  viscera  and  the  mammary  glands ;  and  because  we  cannot 
explain  it  satisfactorily,  it  is  better  not  to  dwell  upon  a  subject 
of  so  much  importance  in  the  successful  practice  of  medicine, 
which  cannot,  to  any  advantage,  be  discussed  in  a  popular 
treatise  on  the  laws  of  health. 

With  peculiar  delicacy  of  mechanism,  woman  has  also  a  cor- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  89 

responding  nervous  susceptibility.  Her  perceptions,  her  intui- 
tions, and  her  moral  tendencies  are  her  own  exclusively,  and, 
though  allied  to  those  of  the  male  sex,  her  nervous  system  is 
peculiar,  and  differs  from  that  of  man. 

Men  may  be  refined,  conscientious,  timid  and  retiring,  but 
still  fall  infinitely  below  a  woman  in  those  attributes  which  give 
dignity,  grace,  and  loveliness  to  her  character. 

Women  faint  more  easily  than  men,  and  weep,  too,  artisti- 
cally when  occasions  require  it ;  but  no  familiarity  with  cruel 
practices,  no  outrages  or  wrongs  are  perpetrated  so  frequently 
in  their  presence,  as  to  deaden  their  sensibilities  to  suffering,  to 
appeals  to  the  heart  and  their  characteristic  sympathies. 

They  recoil  at  the  sight  of  blood,  scream  at  the  approach  of 
a  mouse,  yet,  in  defence  of  their  children,  face  the  mightiest 
array  of  force  with  a  heroism  that  death  cannot  invest  with 
horrors  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  divert  them  from  maternal 
exhibitions  of  moral  courage  absolutely  sublime.  I 

Reason  as  we  may,  and  rear  arguments  mast-head  high,  with 
an  expectation  of  making  the  world  believe  phrenology  is 
nothing  more  than  ingenious  sophistry,  quite  unsupported  by 
facts,  there  is  one  circumstance  obtruding  just  where  it  is  most 
unwelcome  to  the  opponents  of  that  much-abused  science,  viz., 
that  a  large  brain  has  more  power  than  a  small  one. 

HUMAN  HEADS. 

Small  heads,  it  is  assumed,  are  never  distinguished  for 
generating  great  thoughts.  Further,  there  is  a  consciousness  in 
coming  into  the  presence  of  persons  with  large  heads  and  broad 
open  countenances,  that  an  engine  or  a  battery,  call  it  by  what 
name  we  may,  is  inside  those  strong  boxes,  which  are  a  power. 

On  the  contrary,  a  pin-headed  individual,  whether  man  or 


90  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

woman,  whose  cranium  scarcely  rivals  a  cocoanut  in  size,  with- 
out breadth — there  is  nothing  commanding  #bout  it  which 
impresses  us  with  a  conviction  of  superiority  in  or  about  the 
individual. 

That  placidly  received  doctrine,  that  all  enter  upon  the 
stage  of  human  activity  upon  equal  terms,  and  with  equal 
aptitude  for  being  qualified  by  education  to  act  the  hero  or  be 
a  knave,  according  to  circumstances,  is  more  charming  in  a 
Fourth  of  July  oration,  than  true.  Cash  and  circumstances, 
especially  the  first,  as  society  now  stands,  carries  more  votes  than 
talents,  and  buys  positions  which  modest  merit  could  not  acquire 
by  the  practice  of  all  the  moral  virtues. 

Some  are  born  to  command,  as  others  are  to  be  commanded. 
This  is  exemplified  in  every  form  of  government,  from  the 
nursery  to  a  throne. 

Notwithstanding  an  array  of  reasons  advanced  for  giving 
women  political,  and,  indeed,  all  other  privileges  which  men 
glory  in  possessing,  reference  is  not  unf requently  made  to  their 
mental  capacity,  genius,  and  other  cerebral  attributes.  They 
are  not  exactly  underrated  or  undervalued,  but  there  is  a  mean 
attempt  at  both,  when  impudence  passes  for  argument.  That 
they  are  inferior  to  men,  just  because  they  have  not  their 
staunch  bones  or  do  not  chew  tobacco,  is  a  slender  cord  for 
binding  up  absurdities. 

That  the  skulls  of  women  are  smaller,  on  an  average,  than 
male  crania,  cannot  be  denied.  But  that  fact  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  an  incapacity  for  high  pursuits.  If  they  are  small, 
there  is  a  compensation  in  the  quality  for  what  may  be  wanting 
in  the  quantity.  There  are  neither  ganglions  nor  nerves  in  one 
that  are  not  also  existing  in  the  other.  Science  or  education 
will  ultimately  demonstrate  that  a  female  brain  has  a  capacity 
for  the  reception  of  any  knowledge  men  may  or  should  acquire. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  91 

Education  is  a  miracle-worker,  especially  when  it  takes 
female  pupils  in  charge.  That  common  notion,  that  woman's 
sphere  is  one  in  which  there  is  no  need  of  knowing  much  of 
anything  besides  sewing  on  buttons,  rocking  cradles,  or  dusting 
furniture  in  the  drawing-room,  cannot  have  many  advocates, — 
certainly,  none  of  sense. 


KESPONSIBILITY  SOMEWHERE. 

Fathers,  brothers,  and  husbands  are  guilty  of  a  great  wrong 
if  they  neglect  to  elevate  woman  to  the  extent  of  their  pecu- 
niary resources,  in  giving  her  all  attainable  advantages.  Her 
mission  on  this  fair  globe  is  such  that  she  must  have  intelligent 
training.  All  her  faculties  should  be  developed,  and  directed 
to  meet  the  responsibilities  of  her  position. 

Women  are  under  too  much  restraint.  They  have  been 
guarded  in  selfish  ignorance,  till  a  common  sentiment  has  crept 
into  our  civilization  that  they  still  ought  to  have  fewer  privi- 
leges and  less  freedom  than  men. 

Extreme  reserve,  seclusion  from  avenues  to  a  familiar  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  transpiring  in  the  world  in  which  they  have  a 
being,  is  making  prisoners  of  those  who  contribute  all  that 
is  really  refined,  elevating,  and  heavenly  in  our  sojourn  in  life. 
Reserve  may  be  carried  too  far,  and  freedom  degenerate  into 
vulgarity.  That  system,  however,  which  inculcates  self-respect, 
has  intimately  incorporated  with  it  dignity  of  carriage,  gener- 
osity of  soul,  frankness  of  manner,  chastened  by  the  highest 
sense  of  propriety. 

Where  there  is  too  much  scrutiny — too  much  fear  of  being 
too  common — it  is  impossible  to  have  a  full  gushing  out  of  a 
woman's  real  nature.  Contracted  views,  hypocritical  reser- 
vations, and  concealment  of  motives,  are  always  referable 


92  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

to   a  famished  mind.     The  brain  must  be  exercised,  or  it  will 
perish. 

A  woman's  nerves  are  cords  of  a  delicate  instrument — a 
harp  of  a  thousand  strings — which  will  not  keep  in  tune  if 
rudely  handled.  Whatever  may  be  a  success  in  the  primary 
education  of  boys,  should  also  be  adopted  in  the  primary  instruc- 
tion of  girls.  Quite  into  their  thirteenth  year,  they  should 
stand  upon  "the  same  neutral  level.  Whatever  is  proper  for 
one,  is  equally  of  value  to  the  other. 

BOYS  AND  GIRLS  IK  CHILDHOOD. 

Boys  of  a  corresponding  age,  owing  to  their  innate  disposi- 
tion to  frolic,  and  who  in  their  boisterous  pastimes  put  in 
action  every  thread  of  a  muscle  in  their  agile  bodies,  invariably 
have  larger,  stronger  limbs  than  girls.  Besides  the  circumstance 
of  having  larger  bones,  too,  males  of  all  the  higher  order  of  mam- 
malia possess  an  original  endowment,  in  the  general  size  of  the 
whole  body,  above  the  female. 

Were  girls  permitted  to  exercise  as  boys  do,  unrestrained  by 
maxims  and  tramniels  which  ignorance  imposes  at  home  and 
abroad,  in  the  nursery  and  the  school-room,  they  would  become 
nearly  as  muscular,  and  much  more  expanded.  Their  chests 
would  be  broader,  but  an  instinctive  delicacy  never  forsakes 
them  under  the  roughest  usage,  or  the  most  vulgar,  demoraliz- 
ing associations. 

OVER-EDUCATING. 

A  mistake  in  female  education  that  will  have  to  be  rectified, 
before  women  have  their  true  position,  is  over-doing.  They  are 
educated  too  much.  Their  ductile  minds  are  developed  prema- 
turely, to  the  positive  injury  of  their  bodies,  before  they  have 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  93 

fairly  begun  to  live.  This,  too,  is  all  wrong,  and  one  of  the 
causes  of  nervous  irritability  and  excitability  peculiar  to  females 
in  the  Northern  States.  They  are  made  learned,  without  being 
practical. 

A  discourse  on  astronomy,  or  criticisms  on  a  musical  com- 
position, make  an  accomplished  daughter.  When  she  becomes 
a  wife,  she  is  at.  the  mercy  of  servants,  and  her  husband  quite 
undervalued,  if  he  knows  nothing  beyond  providing  bountifully 
for  the  comfort,  honor,  and  respectability  of  his  family. 

Thousands  of  ladies  are  too  erudite  to  be  of  any  use  any- 
where. They  look  with  contempt  upon  those  who  have  not  had 
equal  advantages  for  being  made  useless  beings  like  themselves, 
and  yet,  when  examined  by  the  test  of  common  sense,  they' 
have  never  contributed  a  new  thought,  or,  with  their  accom- 
plishments, enlarged  the  circle  of  human  happiness. 

It  is  not  a  crime  to  laugh  at  the  rural  habits  of  a  plain 
farmer,  but  it  is  a  disgrace  to  a  fine  woman  to  ridicule  the 
simple  manners  of  country  ladies.  If  they  could  see  themselves, 
occasionally,  as  sensible  people  see  them,  there  would  be  a 
change  for  the  better. 


PRETENSIONS  TO  ADVANCED  KNOWLEDGE. 

Some  city  ladies  entertain  exalted  views  of  their  own 
superiority  over  their  country  friends.  When  the  well-meaning 
Mrs.  Baker,  the  grocer's  widow,  retired  with  a  competency,  she 
purchased  a  pleasant  domain  of  forty  acres  in  the  town  where 
she  was  born,  one  hundred  miles  from  the  city.  Her  head  was 
stocked  with  scientific  agriculture,  gleaned  from  the  best 
treatises  on  farming  made  profitable.  She  had  not  been  two 
weeks  at  the  new  home,  which  was  undergoing  astonishing  re- 
pairs, before  she  discovered  the  extreme  ignorance  of  her  neigh- 


94  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

bors  in  respect  to  rural  pursuits.  'Not  one  of  them  had  ever 
read  a  page  of  modern  agricultural  literature, — fascinating  books 
for  a  cultivated  mind.  She  resolved  to  revolutionize  farming, 
by  showing  the  world  generally  what  could  be  done  by  a  city 
woman  with  a  will  and  money  cpmbined. 

For  the  purpose  of  extreme  accuracy,  Mrs.  Baker  having 
further  resolved  to  report  her  successes  in  experimental  farm- 
ing, she  had  a  leaf  in  her  diary  ruled  off  for  profits.  She  ex- 
plained, in  the  kindest  manner,  to  her  coarse  neighbors — in  her 
opinion  the  most  wooden-headed  creatures  she  had  ever  known 
in  the  shape  of  men — that  each  bean,  before  planting,  should  be 
weighed  in  Professor  Pollock's  patent  agricultural  scales.  In 
that  way  an  exact  register  of  the  increase  could  be  determined. 
Fertilizers,  purchased  in  tin  canisters,  which  could  be  carried  in 
a  vest  pocket,  contained  the  virtues  of  a  cart-load  of  nasty 
manure.  Instead  of  delving  with  a  hoe  to  clear  away  weeds,  a 
pair  of  Sly's  patent  vegetable  tweezers  were  worth  a  dozen  hoes 
— with  that  instrument  the  operator  could  extract  weeds  with 
gloved  hands. 

All  this  was  novel  intelligence,  really  quite  new  to  Mrs. 
Baker's  astonished  auditors,  who  said  nothing  beyond  express- 
ing uproarious  wonder  that  a  great  lady  had  known  so  much 
about  a  subject  they  had  generally  supposed  did  not  come  under 
the  catalogue  of  book-knowledge.  They  noticed  she  expressed 
herself  in  long  terms,  not  in  all  the  dictionaries. 

It  was  revealed  to  Mrs.  Baker  that  some  of  her  most  re- 
spectful listeners,  in  appearance,  actually  laughed  behind  her 
back.  "  Never  mind,"  replied  the  philosophical  reformer, 
whose  zeal  had  not  degenerated  into  lunacy,  "  let  those  laugh 
who  win." 

When  harvest  arrived,  those  ignorant  farmers  had  excellent 
crops  without  having  consulted  an  encyclopaedia,  while  Mrs. 


THE   WAYS   OF  WOMEN.  95 

Baker's  manager  gathered  less  than  had  been  sown.  She 
opened  her  eyes  with  amazement  to  the  solemn  realization  of  a 
singular  fact,  viz.,  that  too  much  science  is  unprofitable,  if 
one  intends  to  live  by  farming. 

Female  education  may  be  deplorably  defective  when  women 
are  taught  too  much  of  what  is  of  no  earthly  value  to  them,  at 
the  expense  of  their  health,  and  equally  so,  when  they  assume 
to  know  what  they  do  not  know.  Their  systems  may  be  de- 
stroyed by  over-taxing  the  brain,  while  the  machinery  of  organic 
life,  on  which  mental  excellence  depends,  is  considered  either  of 
secondary  importance,  or  quite  overlooked. 


UNSOUND  WOMEN. 

It  is  a  national  calamity  that  the  women  of  this  country 
are  so  generally  unsound.  Those  distinguished  for  brilliant 
intellects  are  the  most  common  invalids.  To  be  under  medical 
treatment  is  not  only  necessary,  but  very  genteel. 

A  gentleman  of  ample  possessions  and  of  excellent  social 
position,  gave  it  as  a  reason  why  he  did  not  marry,  that  he 
did  not  feel  able  to  keep  apothecaries  and  doctors  continually 
under  pay ! 

"Women  would  not  be  so  nervously  excitable,  slender, 
fragile,  sharp-featured,  and  petulant — as  too  many  of  them  are, 
for  the  happiness  of  their  households — if  they  had  not  been 
wronged  in  the  beginning,  through  a  mismanaged  education. 
They  would  not  have  been  so  universally  predisposed  to  dys- 
pepsia, neuralgia,  paroxysms  of  depression — which  throw  a 
gloom  through  a  pleasant  home,  and  discourage  indulgent 
husbands — had  they  been  generously  permitted  to  breathe  out- 
door air,  subsist  on  plainer  food,  rise  earlier,  sit  fewer  hours  at 
a  piano,  and  read  something  superior  to  sensational  magazines 


96  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

devoted  to  exaggeration,  moonshine  sentiments,  love  in  a  bower, 
and  other  kinds  of  nonsense  calculated  to  mislead  and  over- 
excite  their  youthful  imaginations.  This  is  the  misfortune  of 
what  society  is  pleased  to  call  the  better  classes. 

The  best-informed  young  ladies — those  whose  educational 
advantages  embrace  whatever  is  supposed  will  fit  them  for  the 
highest  positions  which  refined  society  has  at  its  disposal- 
are  the  poorest  wives.  Matrimonial  disagreements  and  wretch- 
edness are  not  found  in  the  middle  classes,  but  just  where 
the  refinements  of  the  lady  of  the  establishment  enable 
her  to  discern  imperfections  where  she  has  fondly  hoped  to 
find  a  companion  who  would  sigh  perpetually,  recite  poetry, 
and  buy  cosmetics  by  the  gallon. 

Their  petulancy,  curt  answers,  despotic  rule  of  servants,  and 
dissatisfied  expressions  toward  those  who  are  devotedly  endeav- 
oring to  promote  their  happiness,  cannot  be  cured  by  pills, 
soothing  powders,  strengthening  plasters,  annual  jaunts  to 
Saratoga,  or  the  attendance  of  a  high-priced  doctor. 

Liberty  to  exercise  in  childhood,  without  being  constantly 
reminded  that  it  is  unladylike  to  run,  vulgar  to  eat  enough  to 
satisfy  a  moderate  appetite,  and  wicked  to  be  natural, — but 
charming  to  cultivate  hypocrisy,  improving  to  be  fastened  in 
garments  that  restrain  the  growth  of  the  chest,  and  glorious 
to  be  in  misery  for  the  sake  of  dying  a  real  lady,  is  the 
lamentable  cause  of  many  of  the  common  woes  of  elevated 
domestic  life. 

Men  and  women  were  designed  for  each  other  on  the  high- 
way of  the  world.  They  are  destined  to  the  same  length  of 
days ;  and,  above  all,  it  was  not  intended  in  the  original  con- 
stitution of  humanity  that  they  should  be  strangers  to  each 
other,  unless  formally  introduced,  after  having  carefully  in- 
spected a  pedigree. 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  97 

NEKVOUS  CEKTBES. 

Besides  injuries  originating  in  the  vice  of  dress  prejudicial 
to  health,  suggestions  ought  to  have  been  made  respecting  the 
violence  inflicted  on  nervous  centres.  Just  under  the  line 
where  the  pressure  is  most  severe  in  girding  on  the  waists  of 
dresses,  are  the  solar  and  semilunar  ganglions.  They  are  way- 
stations  into  which  nerves  enter  and  others  go  out,  which  hold 
control  over  the  stomach,  liver,  spleen,  etc.  They  are  the 
brains  of  the  abdominal  viscera.  They  surround  a  short, 
horizontal  artery  that  shoots  off  from  the  trunk  of  the  aorta, 
the  great  arterial  tube  from  the  heart.  The  coelic  artery — not 
over  an  inch  in  length — subdivides  into  three.  One  goes  to 
the  stomach,  a  second  to  the  spleen,  and  the  third  to  the  liver. 
Any  compression  of  the  waist,  therefore,  besides  disturbing 
those  nervous  centres,  interferes  also  with  a  free  circulation 
of  blood  to  three  important  organs  in  the  abdominal  cavity. 

Mandates,  or  volitions,  are  sent  from  the  brain,  but  the 
way-stations — those  ganglia — repeat  the  commands.  Unim- 
portant transactions,  when  everything  is  progressing  in  the 
usual  way  in  the  viscera,  are  not  transmitted  to  the  principal 
office, — the  brain.  When  there  is  unusual  disturbance,  pain 
and  inflammation,  then  word  is  sent  forward,  and  the  judgment 
determines  how  to  act. 

Simple  irregularities  of  digestion  may  occur,  but  unless  there 
is  a  grave  condition  of  things,  the  brain  has  no  immediate  knowl- 
edge of  it.  It  is  not  always  necessary  to  communicate  what 
may  be  transpiring  in  any  one  organ,  unless  its  functions  are 
seriously  impaired :  then  a  dispatch  is  sent  upward  to  the  brain. 

There  are  many  considerations  connected  with  the  subject 
of  the  nervous  excitability  of  women,  which  have  called  forth 
expostulations,  but  to  no  purpose. 


98  THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN. 

Were  physicians  to  write  plainer  than  ever,  and  address 
themselves  to  parents,  instead  of  preparing  elegant  essays  for 
journals,  walled  in  by  so  many  barriers  of  technical  phrases, 
which  nobody  understands  wrho  is  not  an  expert  in  half  a  dozen 
dead  languages,  no  change  of  system  would  follow.  Fashion 
is  antagonistic. 

SOCIAL  KELATIOKS  or  CHILDREN. 

When  boys  and  girls  are  brought  up  together — in  large 
families,  sitting  at  the  same  table,  mingling  in  each  other's 
society,  sharing  in  amusements  and  intellectual  pursuits — they 
invariably  go  forth  with  better  principles,  stronger  convictions 
of  what  is  duty,  and  live  purer  lives,  than  those  who  are  taught 
that  it  is  sinful  to  look  each  other  in  the  face,  unless  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  watch-dog  of  a  parent,  or  a  dilapidated  old  duenna, 
whose  eyes  can  be  covered  with  a  ten-dollar  bill  to  oblige  her 
young  mistress. 

IMPORTANT  CAUTION. 

It  should  be  taught  children,  that  the  pit  of  the  stomach, 
as  it  is  called,  is  nearly  over  those  ganglions,  or  nervous 
centres,  and  that  they  must  be  favored  in  swathing  the  chest. 
A  blow  there  is  almost  instant  death.  Life  explodes,  as  it 
were,  by  any  rude  approach.  A  kick  of  a  horse,  or  the 
weight  of  an  angry  man's  fist,  at  that  spot,  is  almost  invariably 
fatal. 

There  are  numerous  glands  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
ganglions,  which  compression  disturbs,  and  any  interruption 
in  their  appropriate  offices  affects  the  general  health ;  espe- 
cially those  connected  with  the  function  of  chylification,  if 
pushed  from  their  natural  relations,  or  in  any  way  interfered 
with.  They  may  become  scirrhous,  enlarged,  hypertrophied  ; 


THE   WAYS  OF   WOMEN.  99 

and  a  softening  of  the  bones,  too,  is  sometimes  referable  to 
a  similar  cause. 

Mendicant  children  of  both  sexes,  common  in  public  streets, 
scarcely  covered  decently  in  tattered  loose  garments,  which  are 
the  cast-offs  from  persons  twice  their  size,  are  in  robust  health, 
with  splendid  forms,  sound  white  teeth,  thick  hair,  round  limbs, 
and  good  brains  for  cultivation.  The  rich  man's  daughters  are 
forced  into  being  ladies  before  they  know  the  meaning  of  the 
word,  by  a  system  of  unnatural  discipline  that  kills  them  by 
inches. 

Excessive  fear  of  mingling  with  persons  with  a  small  rent- 
roll,  or  with  none  at  all,  and  harboring  the  opinion  that  men 
are  monsters  seeking  whom  they  may  devour,  are  productive  of 
nervousness  and  feebleness,  traceable  to  the  present  system  of 
female  education ;  and  which  has  also  immensely  multiplied 
maiden  ladies,  to  the  detriment  of  their  own  happiness  and  the 
best  interests  of  society. 


CHAPTEK    X. 

AMUSEMENTS  OF  WOMEN. 

Young  Animals  in  Sports — Blind  Buffaloes — Reptiles — Brain  Volume — Me- 
chanical Ingenuity — Conversation  with  Children — Theoretical  Schemes 
of  Female  Education — Dancing — Entertaining  Distinguished  Guests — 
Theatres — Always  have  Existed,  and  Probably  always  will — Labor — 
Children  Overworked — Philanthropic  Efforts — Playtime  a  Sanitary 
Measure — Why  Sleep  is  Necessary. 

lN"o  suggestions  can  be  made,  or  plans  proposed,  for  the 
innocent  amusement  of  youth,  that  will  not  meet  with  opposi- 
tion from  some  source. 

The  absolute  severity  of  some  parents,  who  believe  they 
have  the  special  approbation  of  heaven  for  making  their  chil- 
dren wretched  by  interdicting  amusements,  is  very  surprising, 
since,  in  their  own  youthful  days,  many  of  them  were  distin- 
guished for  reckless,  rollicking  lives.  It  can  be  explained  on  no 
other  principle  than  by  a  common  observation,  that  the  greatest 
sinners  become  very  exacting  saints. 

All  young  animals  have  their  sports  and  festive  gambols. 
It  is  a  natural  way  of  exercising  muscles,  while  under  the 
excitement  of  pleasurable  emotions,  to  act  as  they  were  intended 
to  contract  and  relax  when  matured.  Thus,  they  run,  turn 
short  corners,  and  seize  each  other  with  a  tender  grip  precisely 
as  they  will  hold  their  prey  when  urged  by  the  stimulus  of 
hunger. 

Such,  certainly,  are  the  characteristic  manoeuvrings  of  car- 
nivorous quadrupeds.  Cattle,  sheep,  horses,  etc.,  till  their  teeth 
are  fully  grown,  are  particularly  playful,  when  they  become 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

grave  and  cautious.  The  lion's  whelps,  young  tigers,  foxes, 
bears,  and  those  of  a  similar  type,  are  extremely  playful  while 
nursing ;  but  as  soon  as  their  stomachs  crave  more  substantial 
food,  the  ferocity  of  their  nature  is  manifested.  Puppies  are 
very  sportively  inclined,  nor  do  they  express  their  canine  energy 
till  they  have  had  a  taste  of  flesh.  They  then  begin  to  quarrel 
among  themselves,  on  the  slightest  provocation,  which  termi- 
nates in  terrific  fights  for  the  possession  of  a  bone. 

Grass-eating  animals  rarely  give  such  vehement  displays  of 
irritability,  even  when  goaded  by  pangs  of  extreme  hunger. 
Colts,  calves,  fawns,  kids,  rabbits,  etc.,  delight  in  the  freest 
exercise  of  their  limbs,  if  in  sight  of  their  mothers.  The  males 
only  engage  in  combats. 

When  battles  are  suspended,  and  renewed  at  short  intervals, 
it  is  solely  for  the  purpose  of  recuperation.  A  contest,  once 
terminated  by  the  submission  of  one  of  the  belligerents,  suffices 
for  the  remainder  of  their  lives.  The  victor  ever  after  walks 
abroad  in  the  consciousness  of  being  without  a  rival.  Stallions, 
dogs,  and  bulls,  when  once  conquered,  remain  in  subjection 
while  the  conqueror  lives. 

Blind  buffaloes  are  actually  leaders  of  immense  droves,  by 
virtue  of  their  prowess  in  youth,  which  is  respected  by  hun- 
dreds of  brave  bulls,  stronger  and  younger,  demeaning  them- 
selves peaceably  in  the  herd  while  the  acknowledged  ruler  is 
able  to  move. 

Skeletons  of  bucks  are  often  found  in  deep  recesses  of  the 
forest,  with  their  branching  antlers  so  inextricably  interlocked, 
that  the  combatants  must  have  died,  in  that  painful  condition, 
of  actual  starvation. 

In  these  illustrations  of  the  youthful  propensities  and  habits 
of  animals,  the  law  of  might  is  allowed  to  predominate.  There 
are  no  rights  acknowledged  among  themselves.  Puny,  feeble, 


102  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

imperfectly-developed  males  cannot  compete  with  the  large,  the 
strong,  and  the  highest  type  of  the  race  to  which  they  belong. 
Consequently,  nature  'secures,  in  perpetuity,  all  the  best  proper- 
ties for  a  succeeding  generation. 


WHERE  THERE  ARE  NO  AMUSEMENTS. 

Neither  birds,  reptiles,  nor  insects  appear  to  have  amuse- 
ments or  periods  of  sportive  relaxation.  From  birth,  they  are 
sedulously  devoted  to  habits  of  industry,  in  providing  for  their 
own  necessities  and  the  wants  of  their  offspring.  There  is  an 
instinct  always  making  reference  to  successors,  but  the  sentiment 
of  parental  affection  is  not  long-lived  with  them. 

Pigeons  and  domesticated  doves  fly  about  in  groups,  forag- 
ing, but  they  never  visit  each  other's  cotes,  nor  engage  in  sports. 
The  attachment  of  the  parents,  when  once  paired,  might  be 
advantageously  imitated  by  reasoning  beings,  who  find  more 
relief  in  the  laws  of  divorce,  than  comfort  in  dove-like  matri- 
mony. 

Their  attentions  to  their  young  are  of  short  duration,  and 
quite  at  variance  with  some  other  traits,  which  have  been 
poetically  lauded  as  worthy  of  consideration. 

Fishes,  crabs,  lobsters,  turtles,  prawns,  etc.,  seem  never  to 
have  sports  among  themselves.  Serpents,  frogs,  toads,  and 
lizards  are  solitary  as  oysters,  each  intent  on  selfish  pursuits. 
Whenever  they  do  huddle  together  on  the  margins  of  pools  or 
in  cliffs  of  submerged  rocks,  they  never  indicate  the  slightest 
gratification,  or  hold  any  intercourse  with  each  other,  more  than 
with  other  inhabitants  swimming  in  the  same  element. 

While  young  birds  are  being  fledged  in  a  nest,  they  lie 
quietly,  without  the  slightest  show  of  playfulness.  Chickens, 
turkeys,  goslings,  ducks,  prairie-hens,  partridges,  quails,  peacocks, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  103 

and  caged  songsters,  press  together  for  mutual  warmth  or  pro- 
tection, without  manifesting  the  remotest  show  of  a  disposition 
for  sport.  Of  the  attachment  of  mother  birds,  nothing  can  be 
more  demonstrative  for  a  short  period.  They  brave  all  dan- 
gers for  the  protection  of  their  little  ones,  and  die  in  unequal 
struggles  for  their  safety. 

Affecting  scenes  are  described  by  arctic  navigators,  of  the 
attachment  of  polar  bears  for  their  nursing  cubs,  and  the  bloody 
encounters  they  have  been  known  to  maintain  against  rifle- 
balls,  in  unequal  efforts  to  save  the  objects  of  their  affection. 
Usually,  the  male  is  rather  an  indifferent  spectator.  Pairing 
birds,  and  perhaps  a  few  of  the  pairing  quadrupeds,  make  some 
show  of  interest  in  the  young,  in  their  most  helpless  infancy, 
and  join  with  the  mother  in  defending  the  lair ;  but,  as  soon  as 
they  are  old  enough  to  run  and  look  out  a  little  for  themselves, 
the  father  loses  all  interest  in  them.  Warm-blooded  animals 
are  those  which  have  pastimes,  rude  to  be  sure,  but,  nevertheless, 
they  actually  enjoy  social  recreations. 

THE  BRAIN. 

As  the  volume  of  brain  augments,  a  disposition  for  play- 
fulness is  more  apparent.  Boys  and  girls  scarcely  do  much  else 
from  the  cradle  to  adolescence,  than  play  in  some  manner  that 
promotes  their  happiness.  The  fabrication  of  toys  of  any  con- 
ceivable description  for  their  amusement  is  a  branch  of  manu- 
facturing interest  that  has  always  been  profitable,  and  gives 
employment  to  large  numbers  of  ingenious  mechanics  in  every 
country,  civilized  or  not.  Yery  large  commercial  houses  are 
exclusively  engaged  in  the  importation  of  playthings  for 
children. 

In  the  catacombs  and  mummy-pits  of  Egypt,  and  the  cem- 


104  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

eteries  of  extinct  nations,  toys  have  been  found  in  abundance, 
showing  that  the  demands  of  childhood  have  always  been  re- 
cognized in  every  age  and  country  where  humanity  has  had  a 
being. 

The  disposition,  tendencies,  and  irresistible  demands  of 
their  nature  for  objects  proper  for  exercising  their  juvenile 
brains,  is  a  necessity,  and  has  been,  from  the  first  formation  of 
human  society.  Savages  tax  their  ingenuity  in  making  rude 
toys  for  their  children. 

This  may  be  thought  a  small  matter,  but  it  is  of  importance. 
Toys  assist  them  in  forming  opinions,  correcting  their  judg- 
ment, and  in  classifying  muscular  action.  Distances,  weight, 
dimensions,  form,  color,  etc.,  are  insensibly  acquired,  to  be 
applied  in  other  ways,  and  for  far  different  purposes  as  they 
advance  in  knowledge. 


GIVE  THEM  FACILITIES. 

Mechanical  skill  and  a  genius  for  invention  is  very  early 
manifested  in  some  boys.  They  should  always  be  gratified  with 
the  possession  of  implements  for  perfecting  their  designs.  Too 
generally  they  are  denied  facilities  which  would  give  them 
great  advantages.  Tools  are  invariably  coveted  by  such  as  have 
a  mechanical  turn,  but  nothing  is  more  common  than  to  deride 
their  plans  and  ridicule  their  machinery.  Let  them  have  ham- 
mers, saws,  chisels,  files,  and  by  all  means  a  turning-lathe,  even 
if  they  break  some  of  them  and  lose  the  remainder.  Children 
have  wants,  real  ones  too,  which,  when  not  positively  preposter- 
ous, should  be  indulged.  It  may  lead  to  proud  results.  Every 
one  who  has  had  experience  with  children,  knows  what  a  treas- 
ure a  gimlet  is  to  a  boy.  A  jack-knife  is  something  above 
riches.  With  it  he  converts  shingles  into  wind-mills,  carves 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  105 

horses  out  of  turnips,  builds  edifices  with  blocks,  and  makes 
happiness  for  himself  with  it  in  a  garret.  With  a  box  of  tools 
he  learns  the  use  of  instruments,  while  exercising  both  brain  and 
muscles.  "With  tools,  boys  can  amuse  themselves  in  the  dullest 
weather.  While  mending  their  broken  sleds,  or  constructing  a 
miniature  wagon,  they  are  creating  something,  which  is  always 
a  pleasure.  The  little  miss,  in  dressing  her  doll,  finds  unspeak- 
able enjoyment.  It  is  teaching  her  how  to  use  the  needle,  the 
thimble,  and  her  scissors  ;  therefore,  it  is  not  a  waste  of  time, 
but  a  regular  course  of  instruction,  in  which  practice  makes 
perfect. 

If  girls  and  boys  are  benefited  in  no  other  way  with  tools 
appropriate  for  each  in  the  sphere  in  which  they  have  been 
designed  to  move,  it  is  in  being  kept  out  of  mischief  while  they 
are  permitted  to  use  them.  They  always  love  and  honor 
parents  who  indulge  them  in  the  line  of  their  social  propensi- 
ties. Constantly  forbidding  them  to  do  this  or  that,  because 
they  themselves  dislike  it,  makes  disobedient  children.  If  men 
and  women  are  but  children  of  a  larger  growth,  they  surely 
ought  to  sympathize  with  youth,  and  not  exact  of  them  sedate- 
ness,  or  the  solemn  expression  of  thoughtfulness  that  belongs 
to  mature  age. 

ASSOCIATE  WITH  CHILDREN. 

Those  parents  who  never  allow  themselves  to  mingle  with 
their  children,  or  express  an  interest  in  their  little  pursuits,  ' 
have  no  foretaste  of  heaven.  Conversation  with  them  gives 
them  encouragement  in  what,  to  their  immature  minds,  seems 
of  the  highest  importance.  Ridicule  is  a  hateful  weapon  in 
damping  the  ardor  of  ambitious  children.  Help  them  on  with 
their  inventions ;  assist  them  in  their  rude  drawings ;  suggest 
improvements  in  their  constructions;  for  a  great  architect,  a 


106  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

splendid  artist,  or  a  distinguished  engineer  may  be  hidden  in 
the  rough  combinations  of  blocks,  old  bricks,  or  snow-balls  rolled 
together  at  recess  in  front  of  a  country  school-house. 

Young  women,  like  young  men,  must  have  amusements. 
It  is  an  inborn  necessity  of  their  nature,  and  hence  the  question, 
What  may  they  do  or  not  do,  after  passing  through  rattles  and 
dolls  ? 

A  host  of  propositions  emanate  from  all  sorts  of  people  in 
regard  to  the  question,  which  is  thought  more  momentous  in 
reference  to  girls,  than  the  question  merits.  There  is  a  plain 
way  of  settling  the  matter,  in  accordance  with  the  acknowl- 
edged rules  of  Christian  propriety  and  benevolence. 

It  is  curious  that  more  schemes  for  rearing  young  ladies  to 
be  what  society  expects  and  demands  them  to  be,  emanate 
from  persons  who  never  had  daughters  of  their  own,  than  from 
those  who  have  had  many  to  perpetuate  their  memory.  Let 
them  have  the  confidence  and  intimate  society  of  their  parents. 
That  is  one  of  the  first  lessons  for  improving  them. 

Theoretical  schemes  on  the  culture  of  female  youth  almost 
always  have  their  origin  with  sour,  opinionated  old-bachelor 
teachers,  or,  worse  still,  retired  maiden  ladies. 

INFLUENCE  OF  Music. 

Nothing  more  instantaneously  quickens  nervous  excitability 
than  instrumental  music.  Some  airs  have  such  inspiration  in 
them  that  we  can  hardly  control  our  feet,  which  is  a  very  direct 
mode  of  conducting  off  what  the  brain  is  taking  in.  If  octo- 
genarians unconsciously  beat  time  with  their  gouty  toes,  what 
electrical  ecstasies  get  the  ascendency  of  young  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  when  the  thrilling  tones  of  a  violin  break  in  upon 
their  ravished  ears ! 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  107 

Dancing  is  one  of  those  natural,  spontaneous  outbursts  of 
youth,  which  can  hardly  be  suppressed  by  efforts  of  the  will.  It 
is  not  to  be  first  learned  before  a  disposition  to  dance  is 
developed.  Those  who  know  nothing,  artistically,  of  taking 
steps,  or  ever  saw  others  dance,  can  scarcely  restrain  themselves 
from  a  sudden  display  of  sprightly  antics,  when  music  rouses 
them  to  a  state  of  exultation,  which  cannot  be  produced  by  any 
other  means. 

Why  have  we  ears  for  music,  or  music  at  all,  if  it  is  wrong 
to  listen  to  it  ?  Why  is  Old  Hundred  any  more  acceptable  to 
that  Divine  Intelligence,  who  is  the  author  of  harmony  and  the 
contriver  of  our  acoustic  nerves,  than  the  College  Hornpipe  ? 

• 
DANCING. 

Dancing  is  an  admirable  exercise  for  all  the  cordage  of  the 
body,  and  eminently  conducive  to  health.  It  quickens  the  cir- 
culation, while  promoting  all  the  glandular  secretions.  Nothing 
else  compares  with  that  exercise.  Nature  intended  it  for  a 
peculiar  sanitary  pleasure.  Although  young  animals  do  not 
artistically  dance,  they  caper  and  display  their  agility  under 
the  exhilirating  excitement  of  exuberant  health. 

We  dance  to  sounds  that  stimulate  a  more  highly-organized 
brain  than  animals  possess,  till  weariness  succeeds,  which  is  an 
evidence  that  110  further  excitation  is  required  for  that  time. 

Let  hard-faced,  dilapidated  casuists  reason  as  they  may  on 
the  moral  torpitude  of  dancing,  it  is  perfectly  in  harmony  with 
those  hygienic  laws,  the  observance  of  which,  never  carried  to 
excess,  tends  to  health  and  longevity.  King  David  danced 
before  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  for  which  he  was  severely 
criticised  by  one  of  his  pious  wives,  whose  pharisaical  hypocrisy 
was  of  a  piece  with  the  moral  shock  the  sensitive  objectors  to 


108  THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN. 

a  very  innocent  recreation  pretend  they  feel  when  a  ball  is 
proposed. 

Religious  intolerance,  from  immemorial  time,  has  been  at 
open  war  with  the  votaries  of  the  dance.  It  is,  indeed,  remark- 
able that  the  clergy  of  some  denominations  never  fail,  when 
opportunities  present,  of  thundering  anathemas  against  that 
odious  so-called  sin,  as  though  it  were  a  dreadful  crime  in  the 
sight  of  heaven. 

Under  the  shadow  of  those  edifices  where  fearful  denuncia- 
tions are  annunciated  against  that  shocking  vice,  and  where 
solemn  pronunciamentos  are  regularly  promulgated,  dancing- 
schools  flourish  with  undiminished  success.  Dancing  has  never 
been  abandoned  in  any  community  where  those  great  ecclesias- 
tical guns  have  been  levelled,  nor  ever  temporarily  suspended  on 
account  of  the  bigoted  hostility  of  bilious  sour-krouts,  who  are 
never  happier  than  when  they  have  made  some  lady  wretched, 
in  obedience  to  their  interpretation  of  the  Divine  Will. 

Government  officials  and  municipalities  greet  distinguished 
guests  with  cordial  attentions,  which  usually  embrace  festivities 
in  which  dancing  is  a  prominent  feature. 

MORAL  SENTIMENT. 

Those  self -constituted  instructors  in  moral  excellence,  who 
presume  to  assert  what  is  most  pleasant  and  satisfactory  to 
themselves  as  being  also  most  satisfactory  to  the  power  above 
they  represent,  gain  nothing  for  morality  by  their  hostility  to 
innocent  amusements.  Ecclesiastical  cannonading  avails  no- 
thing, since  people  will  continue  to  dance  while  they  have  feet 
and  music  is  heard  on  earth. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  109 

THEATKES. 

Theatres  are  universally  denounced  by  the  same  self-consti- 
tuted interpreters  of  divine  precepts,  as  the  focus  of  demoraliza- 
tion; but,  notwithstanding  the  unrelaxing  bombardment  to 
which  they  have  been  subjected,  they  are  multiplying  with  the 
extension  of  civilization.  Delighted  crowds  throng  them,  and 
they  will  continue  to  do  so,  while  society  exists  in  its  present 
form. 

Were  it  true  that  scenic  representations  of  the  foibles  or 
the  graces  of  mankind  on  the  stage  were  as  bad  as  ranting  re- 
formers represent,  a  second  deluge  would  have  been  required 
centuries  ago,  to  wash  away  their  pollutions. 

Dancing,  music,  and  theatres  will  be  sustained  while  men 
have  ears,  music  charms,  and  the  stage  represents  the  passions, 
hopes,  fears,  love,  and  hatred  engendered  in  the  human  heart. 
ISTo  legislation  could  arrest  either,  or  suppress  them  so  effectually 
as  that  they  would  not  reappear  in  some  form  essentially  the 
same. 

Appeals  to  the  conscience  have  been  as  ridiculous  as  shoot- 
ing at  the  moon  with  an  expectation  of  forcing  it  from  the 
orbit  in  which  it  moves.  Persecution  is  ineffectual.  "When 
legal  enactments  are  sustained  by  a  force  strong  enough  to  stop 
public  amusements,  of  which  dancing  and  theatricals  are  most 
prominent  and  universal,  because  they  are  considered  a  nuisance 
or  a  sin,  then  moral  reformers  must  interdict  music  also,  in  the 
same  bill.  After  that,  to  be  consistent,  ears  must  be  cut  off, 
whenever  it  can  be  proved  before  an  impartial  jury  of  self-con- 
stituted saints,  any  man,  woman,  or  child,  wickedly,  and  with 
malice  aforethought,  listened  to  prohibited  strains  of  melody, 
against  the  dignity  and  majesty  of  an  offended  law.  There  are 
in  Europe,  at  the  present  moment,  fourteen  hundred  and  eighty- 


HO  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

two  theatres.  In  Prance,  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  ;  in 
Italy,  two  hundred  and  eight ;  in  Spain,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  ;  in  Austria,  one  hundred  and  fifty-two ;  in  Prussia,  sev- 
enty-six ;  in  Russia,  thirty-four ;  and  in  England,  one  hundred 
and  fifty-six.  In  the  United  States,  where  they  are  numerous 
and  constantly  on  the  increase,  the  Canadas,  Mexico,  South 
America  and  the  West  Indies,  make  a  very  formidable  list  for 
the  New  "World. 

MOKE  KECREATION  DEMANDED. 

The  opposition  which  narrow-minded  people  manifest 
against  dancing,  is  perfectly  unaccountable.  In  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  there  are  not  recreative  amusements  enough  for  the 
proper  relaxation  of  body  and  mind.  Public  sentiment  was 
formed  by  Puritan  ancestors,  who  were  compelled  to  work  in- 
cessantly for  their  preservation.  They  had  no  opportunity  for 
relaxation  or  social  enjoyment.  Their  ecclesiastical  teachers, 
in  whom  they  reposed  implicit  faith,  and  to  whom  they  yielded 
servile  obedience,  were  careful  to  instil  into  their  crude  con- 
gregations the  heinousness  of  levity.  The  wickedness  of  laugh- 
ter, and  blind  devotion  to  the  gloomy  teachings  of  a  church 
that  fled  from  oppression  to  become  an  oppressor,  was  incul- 
cated by  saintly  men  who  vigilantly  superintended  their  flocks. 
Labor  was  necessary,  but  they  were  over-taxed  with  cares  which 
gave  a  fixed  gravity  of  countenance  that  has  been  transmitted 
to  their  posterity.  This  accounts  for  the  haggard,  gloomy  faces 
which  predominate  there  to  this  day.  They  are  taught  to  do 
everything  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  never  to  allow  any  out- 
gushing  impulses  of  hilarity.  It  is  quite  remarkable,  that  with 
the  progress  of  society  in  art,  science,  literature,  and  humanity, 
there  are  still  many  remnants  of  the  good  old  times  referred  to 
in  their  chronicles,  who  deem  any  deviation  from  their  stand- 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  HI 

ard  of  faith,  a  near   approach  to  an  abyss   of  misery  in  the 
world  to  which  offenders  are  hastening  with  railroad  speed. 

OVER-TAXING  CHILDREN. 

Children  are  over-worked — far  beyond  their  powers  of  en- 
durance. It  is  discoverable  in  their  imperfect  physical  develop- 
ment. "With  us,  their  brains  are  over-taxed.  '  Schools  of  every 
grade,  from  primary  infantile  to  normal  institutions,  require  too 
much.  Under  the  impression  they  are  having  rare  facilities  for 
acquiring  knowledge,  the  poor  things  break  down  under  a  pres- 
sure of  too  much  instruction. 

Force  of  circumstances  compels  parents  to  place  their  chil- 
dren too  soon  in  factories,  where  they  are  wronged  out  of  their 
share  of  vital  air  to  which  all  are  entitled.  Philanthropists 
have  appealed  to  the  legislature,  but  in  vain.  There  is  law 
enough  for  their  protection,  without  a  corresponding  earnest- 
ness to  execute  it.  Though  all  are  born  free,  and  have  equal 
rights  in  the  pursuits  of  health,  wealth,  and  happiness,  only  few 
of  the  many  secure  either.  Poverty  connot  compete  success- 
fully with  wealth. 

There  is  another  field  for  culture  where  the  harvest  might  be 
large,  but  the  laborers  are  few.  In  private  families  where  chil- 
dren are  loved  and  watched  over  with  paternal  solicitude,  there 
is  a  culpable  ignorance  in  obliging  their  little  ones  to  do 
too  much,  under  the  mistaken  idea  of  giving  them  superior 
advantages. 

Precocious  children  disappoint  the  ardent  expectations  of 
their  friends.  "When  they  arrive  at  an  age  at  which  they  are 
fondly  supposed  to  be  ready  to  blaze  with  extraordinary  mental 
brilliancy,  their  feeble  light  goes  out.  Slow  and  sure  is  a  true 
saying.  Gradually  evolving  an  intellect,  as  a  flower  unfolds  its 


112  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

beauty,  is  a  safer  process  than  bursting  open  suddenly,  to  wither 
under  the  first  rays  of  a  morning  sun. 

Children  ought  not  to  be  taught  much  of  anything  more 
than  moral  duties,  till  they  have  reached  at  least  six  years. 
Their  brains  are  in  no  condition  for  concentrating  thoughts 
before.  They  should  have  perfect  liberty  to  act  out  their  ex- 
uberant playfulness  with  as  little  restraint  as  possible,  consistent 
with  proper  discipline  in  the  lessons  of  good  manners,  courtesy, 
truth,  and  order.  Time  is  not  lost  in  giving  them  such  scope 
for  exercising  body  and  mind.  Their  activity  and  ever-varying 
amusements  are  but  so  many  ways  of  tutoring  their  muscles, 
their  organs  of  sense,  and  in  preparing  them  for  the  places  and 
responsibilities  of  the  future. 

Public  schools  are  over- working  pupils,  goaded  by  fear  of 
disgrace  or  punishment ;  over-excited  by  promised  rewards, 
their  immature  nervous  systems  are  forced  at  the  expense  of 
their  vitality.  When  pale,  delicate,  frail  little  girls  are  nattered 
into  a  morbid  ambition  in  a  Sunday-school,  to  commit  to 
memory  long,  dry  chapters,  to  them  without  meaning,  it  is  re- 
prehensible. It  is  a  violation  of  a  physical  law  that  has  broken 
down  and  spoiled  many  a  bright  and  promising  child. 

Allow  children  all  the  play-time  they  wish.  They  will  stop 
at  a  seasonable  period  for  disciplining  their  innate  powers, 
voluntarily,  to  commence  a  higher  series  of  employments  which 
will  be  also  enjoyments. 

It  is  a  lamentable  mistake  to  keep  young  misses  several  suc- 
cessive hours  at  the  piano.  Dragooning  them  into  accomplish- 
ments is  a  poor  policy.  Besides  deranging  the  minute  structure 
of  the  brain  by  long-continued  practice  at  a  single  sitting,  if 
attended  with  fatigue,  the  continued  attitude  presses  painfully 
on  certain  bones.  Curvatures  of  the  spine,  and  a  droop  of  a 
shoulder,  are  traceable  to  such  circumstances. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 


113 


Recollect  tlie  bones  of  young  girls  are  not  completely  ossified 
till  near  their  twentieth  year.  They  are  not  hard  and  firm.  A 
fixed  attitude,  therefore,  so  as  that  the  weight  of  the  body 
presses  directly  on  the  pelvic  frame-work,  may  warp  them  out 
of  the  line  in  which  they  should  have  development.  Nature 
has  inspired  all  young  animals  with  a  restless  spirit,  on  purpose 
to  keep  them  moving.  A  love  of  change  is  simply  giving  each 
and  every  fibre  and  organ  a  chance  to  perfect  its  organization. 

While  children  sleep,  which  is  about  all  the  rest  their  active 
limbs  require,  processes  are  then  rapidly  going  on  for  the  phy- 
sical completion  of  their  bodies.  That  is  the  reason  why  they 
require  so  much  repose.  Internal  artisans  then  labor  with  in- 
tense energy  while  they  are  quiescent  in  slumber. 

Growth  is  suspended  when  they  are  awake,  but  renewed  the 
instant  their  eyelids  are  closed. 

Unfledged  birds  in  the  nest  sleep  nearly  all  the  time,  after 
leaving  the  shell,  till  their  feathers  are  sufficiently  developed  to 
sustain  them  on  the  wing.  Their  perfect  quietude  favors  vital 
processes,  so  that  in  a  very  few  weeks  they  are  complete  in  all 
their  proportions. 

"When  the  brain  is  large,  the  process  of  growth  is  slower. 
Allow  young  girls  and  boys  as  much  sleep  as  they  desire.  It  is 
not  from  indolence,  or  a  sluggish  nature,  that  they  are  so  uni- 
formly disposed  to  drowse  to  a  late  hour  in  the  morning.  If 
they  retired  earlier,  they  would  rise  earlier.  But  Nature  de- 
mands both  time  and  opportunity  for  completing  their  bodies 
according  to  a  prescribed  pattern.  If  we  interfere  with  that 
law,  and  interrupt  processes  instituted  for  that  purpose,  they 
will  have  unfinished  bodies,  weak  brains,  and  poor  health. 


CHAPTEE  XL 
THEIR  MODE  OF  Livnsra. 

Pickles  —  Dentists  Benefited  —  Hereditary  Tendency  —  Mountaineers  — 
Digestion — Sugar-eating — Character  of  Food — Food  of  Animals — Camels 
— Artificial  Teeth — Must  Vary  our  Pursuits — Rural  Diseases — Neuralgic 
Pains — Sallow  Complexions. 

WITH  digestive  organs  requiring  the  same  kinds  of  food  that 
instinct  and  custom  sanction  for  man,  there  is  a  special  refer- 
ence made  in  favor  of  some  women,  on  account  of  a  supposed 
delicacy  of  constitution.  They  imagine  they  could  not  subsist 
on  ordinary  diet.  What  they  have  must  be  very  concentrated, 
so  as  to  occupy  but  little  room  in  the  stomach. 

Unfortunately,  it  is  ungenteel  to  have  much  of  an  appetite, 
especially  for  young  misses,  destined  to  circulate  in  fashionable 
orbits,  whose  ignorant  mothers  commence  early  with  giving 
them  practical  lessons  in  personal  elegance.  To  dine  heartily 
would  carry  with  it  an  extreme  air  of  vulgarity :  hence,  the  less 
a  young  lady  takes  at  table,  the  higher  her  preparation  for  re- 
finements that  are  appreciated  among  those  who  think  more  of 
a  fine  form  than  of  intellectual  accomplishments. 

Light  soups,  rich  cakes,  choice  fruits,  and  tea  always,  is  held 
to  be  the  dietary  range  of  an  exquisite  woman.  Articles  that 
would  meet  the  requirements  of  her  system  are  quite  inadmiss- 
ible, at  least  in  the  presence  of  satirical  judges  of  propriety. 

Food  most  approved,  and  that  which  carries  with  it  the 
endorsement  of  manoeuvring  mothers,  anxiously  looking  for- 
ward to  the  establishment  of  their  children  in  commanding 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

social  positions,  even  if  the  intended  husband  is  a  baboon,  is 
a  slice  of  dry  toast,  weak  black  tea,  and  an  occasional  tea- 
spoonful  of  sweetmeats. 

HORROR  OF  FAT. 

No  calamity  is  more  dreaded  than  fat  in  an  aspiring  young 
lady.  Consequently,  on  the  presumption  that  partial  starva- 
tion is  the  legitimate  way  of  keeping  it  at  bay — that  horrid 
destroyer  of  female  symmetry  and  female  ambition,  of  which 
very  many  are  in  painful  apprehension — no  efforts  are  left 
untried  to  preserve  a  slender  form. 

There  are  two  methods  extensively  in  repute  for  keeping 
off  the  enemy,  which  marketable  belles  manage  with  dex- 
terity. One  is  vinegar,  drunk  often ;  and  the  other,  pickled 
cucumbers. 

Those  in  comfortable  circumstances,  unsophisticated  in 
the  ways  of  acquiring  extra  attractions  through  the  resources 
of  art ;  those  under  no  restraints  from  a  dread  of  fatness ;  who 
satisfy  a  normal  demand  of  the  stomach,  and  breathe  and 
exercise  in  an  uncontaminated  atmosphere — happily  are  re- 
moved from  the  temptation,  the  trials,  discipline,  and  excitement 
of  artificial  life.  But  they  are  commiserated  on  account  of 
their  robustness. 

Gaudily-dressed  butterfly-misses,  who  are  on  exhibition 
in  the  street,  at  eclectic  churches,  if  the  weather  is  favorable 
for  the  display  of  feathers,  diamonds,  and  streaming  ribbons, 
are  most  frequently  addicted  to  the  vice  of  vinegar-drinking. 
A  dread  of  fat  is  a  misfortune,  when  it  degenerates  into  an 
insane  determination  to  be  the  shadow,  rather  than  the  sub- 
stance, of  a  live  woman. 

The  consumption  of  pickles  gives  employment  to  many 
hands,  and  hundreds  of  broad  acres  are  annually  planted  with 


116  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

cucumbers,  to  meet  the  mercantile  demand — the  consumers 
being  principally  ladies. 

Gardeners  and  dentists  are  benefited  by  a  trade  that  en- 
riches both,  while  the  effect  is  directly  opposite  on  the  health 
of  that  order  of  patients. 

This  is  the  country  of  poor  teeth.  A  full,  perfectly  sound 
set  is  an  anomaly.  There  are  many  with  beautiful  teeth ;  but 
there  are  ninety  in  every  hundred  young  ladies  whose  teeth 
are  in  a  hopeless  condition  of  premature  decay.  Brush  and 
cleanse  them  as  they  may,  the  progress  of  caries  cannot  be 
arrested. 

No  doubt,  the  quality  of  their  food  may  have  some  influence 
in  injuring  them;  especially,  if  taken  either  too  hot  or  too 
cold.  But  large  numbers  inherit  a  predisposition  to  an  early 
crumbling  away  of  the  enamel,  which  exposes  the  bony  part 
to  the  direct  action  of  agents  that  blacken  and  destroy 
the  entire  body  of  a  tooth  thus  denuded  of  its  protecting 
covering. 

This  diathesis  is  propagated  and  shows  itself  from  one 
generation  to  another.  Sound  teeth,  strong  enough  to  resist 
influences  that  act  unfavorably  upon  others,  are  also  an 
inheritance. 

Where  an  early  predisposition  to  decay  is  recognized, 
there  is  the  more  need  of  supplying  in  food  those  materials 
which  are  appropriated  for  those  organs  in  their  growth,  as 
well  as  preservation.  "With  that  tendency,  acids  hasten  their 
destruction. 


COMMERCIAL  PICKLES. 

Pickles   are  but  vehicles  for  carrying   acids,   and,   hence, 
those  who  consume  them  excessively,  especially  those  with  an 


THE  WAYS   OF   WOMEN.  H7 

hereditary  tendency  to  premature  decay,  quicken  the  process 
of  decomposition. 

Pure  apple  vinegar,  or  that  manufactured  from  wine,  is 
slower  in  its  action  than  commercial  vinegar,  which  is  made 
of  sulphuric  acid.  When  diluted,  it  seizes  upon  the  lime 
of  the  teeth  with  such  activity,  that  the  enamel  gives  way 
to  its  intense  chemical  agency. 

Cider  vinegar  is  too  expensive  for  manufacturing  pickles  on 
a  large  scale.  Sulphuric  acid,  therefore,  is  the  basis  of  that  of 
which  common  market  pickles  are  made.  It  is  not  uncommon 
to  find  a  cask  of  pickled  cucumbers  converted  into  a  thick, 
pulpy  mass  of  green  gelatinous  material,  without  any  remaining 
resemblance  to  the  vegetable  from  which  it  was  formed.  If 
too  strong,  this  result  is  to  be  expected,  kept  barrelled  eight  or 
ten  months,  without  being  opened  to  the  air. 

Pickles,  therefore,  made  from  that  acid,  cannot  be  brought 
in  contact  with  the  teeth  without  doing  an  injury.  Thus,  in 
the  expectation  of  preventing  grossness,  which,  no  doubt,  is 
partially  accomplished  by  acids,  aided  by  a  spare  diet,  caries 
and  toothache  may  be  anticipated. 

SOUND  TEETH. 

Travellers  comment  on  our  national  tendency  to  defective 
teeth.  Bad  teeth,  however,  in  the  country,  are  not  so  common 
as  in  cities.  There  the  food  is  not  seasoned,  usually,  so  highly, 
and  is,  therefore,  freer  from  elements  that  undermine  them. 

In  new  countries,  especially  in  wheat-growing  districts, 
where  lime  is  largely  combined  with  the  soil,  men  and  women 
are  tall,  and  the  females  particularly  noticeable  for  their  sym- 
metrical proportions  and  admirable  teeth. 

Tennessee  and  Kentucky  are  celebrated  for  their  splendidly- 


118  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

developed  specimens  of  humanity.  Their  out-door  exercises 
and  plain  fresh  food  provide  nature  with  materials  for  com- 
pleting her  labors  according  to  established  laws. 

When  the  soil  is  poor,  thin,  and  barren  of  bone-making 
constituents,  the  people  are  short,  broad-chested,  with  lower 
limbs  disproportioned  in  length  to  the  superior  parts  of  the 
body.  There  are  tall  and  short  persons  everywhere,  in  every 
community;  but  the  average  height  is  below  that  of  the 
inhabitants  of  places  where  the  composition  of  the  soil  favors 
their  development  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  law  of  growth,  as 
in  the  new  Western  States. 

Lime  is  scarcely  appreciable  by  chemical  tests  where  some 
cereals  are  raised  successfully,  and  where  families  are  remark- 
able for  their  strong,  fine  teeth.  Yet  there  are  those  among 
them  who  have  decayed  ones ;  but  the  majority  are  favored 
with  sound,  well-formed  teeth. 

Yermont,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  the  adjoin- 
ing Northern  States  present  an  illustration  of  this  fact  in 
regard  to  bad  teeth  bearing  a  certain  relation  to  the  agricul- 
tural resources  of  the  soil.  There  wheat  cannot  be  raised  as 
at  the  West,  and  there  dentists  are  required.  They  are  almost 
as  numerous  as  physicians.  Dental  operators  appear  very  much 
disproportioned  to  the  population  of  the  cities  and  towns  in 
which  they  settle.  But  that  is  accounted  for  in  the  facilities  by 
railroads  for  their  customers,  who  reside  in  the  interior. 

Dentists  are  multiplying  in  the  Western  States,  where  once 
the  profession  was  hardly  known.  Their  patrons  are  represen- 
tatives of  the  Eastern  States,  in  large  proportions, — emigrants 
from  the  worn-out,  exhausted  soil  of  the  Atlantic  States,  who 
carry  with  them  the  hereditary  tendency  to  an  early  decay  of 
their  teeth. 

Estimated  by  the  good  they  do  in  a  sanitary  relation,  den- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  H9 

tists  are  eminently  entitled  to  all  the  honors  and  pecuniary 
independence  they  secure.  When  teeth,  provided  by  nature, 
fail  prematurely,  art  furnishes  substitutes  equally  useful  for 
mastication  and  speech. 

The  ingenuity  of  American  dentists  is  not  surpassed  any- 
where, in  meeting  the  difficulties  that  present  in  thousands  of 
irregularities  in  the  jaws  of  the  toothless. 

Cereals  are  most  abundant  in  phosphate  of  lime.  Indian  corn 
is  not  to  be  despised  or  underrated  as  food,  because  it  is  deficient 
in  certain  elements  in  larger  measure  in  wheat.  "Wherever  that 
grain  is  used  extensively  for  food,  good  teeth  are  in  the  majority. 

With  the  loss  of  teeth,  not  only  the  voice  is  considerably 
modified,  but  less  distinctly  articulated ;  certain  sounds,  essential 
to  the  perfect  enunciation  of  language,  cannot  be  given  without 
them.  Deprived  of  teeth,  the  expression  is  deranged.  By  a 
loss  of  the  incisors,  the  mouth  is  out  of  shape,  only  to  be 
restored  by  the  substitution  of  artificial  ones. 

When  teeth  have  been  long  removed,  an  absorption  of  the 
gums  invariably  takes  place,  which  brings  the  lips  together, 
shortening  the  face,  and  very  much  altering  it — giving  an 
appearance  of  age.  When  the  original  level  of  the  gums  is 
restored  by  art,  sunken  cheeks  are  again  distended,  and  the 
muscles  of  expression  immediately  bring  back  the  original 
characteristic  outlines. 

Because  millions  of  teeth  are  blackened  and  eaten  away 
by  sulphuric  vinegar,  with  a  view  to  perfecting  the  form  of 
the  lady,  by  removing  or  preventing  a  superfluity  of  fat, 
pains  and  penalties,  disastrous  to  the  teeth,  have  been  dwelt 
upon  with  a  hope  of  wakening  those,  who  are  blessed  with 
sound  organs,  to  the  nature  of  the  disaster,  the  evils  of  which 
they  may  avoid  by  abstaining  from  factitious  vinegar,  and,  if 
they  can  be  persuaded,  from  every  kind  of  pickle. 


120  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

UNBOLTED  FLOUR. 

Good  flour,  that  most  esteemed  on  account  of  its  whiteness, 
is  the  poorest  for  food  in  those  qualities  which  furnish  tooth- 
matter.  In  bolting  out  the  bran,  there  goes  with  it  the 
materials  indispensable  for  the  formation  of  bone,  and  par- 
ticularly teeth.  Those,  therefore,  who  subsist  on  coarse 
brown  bread,  made  from  unbolted  flour,  take  into  their 
stomachs  precisely  those  elements  that  another  class  of  good 
livers  exclude,  and  they  consequently  have  strong  teeth  and 
strong  bones ;  while  those,  whose  bread  is  of  the  finest  and 
whitest  quality,  with  their  aching  teeth  to  be  filled  or  finally 
extracted,  are  the  best  patrons  of  dentists. 

When  Graham  bread  was  introduced,  a  dietetic  reform  was 
needed.  The  bread  in  general  use  among  good  livers  was 
too  much  concentrated.  The  flour  was  deprived  of  parts 
that  should  accompany  it,  in  order  to  give  distension  to  the 
stomach  and  bowels.  The  Graham  flour  retains  the  bran — 
the  very  thing  of  all  others  in  the  composition  of  wheat, 
which  contains  the  phosphate  of  lime.  When  stablers  feed 
their  horses  on  that  article,  they  give  them  something  far  better 
than  flour.  It  is  providing  them  with  materials  of  keeping 
not  only  their  teeth,  but  their  bones,  in  good  condition. 

Ladies  ordinarily  subsist  on  food  too  concentrated.  That 
is,  it  is  too  fine,  and,  therefore,  does  not  distend  the  stomach 
enough  to  keep  its  walls  from  coming  in  contact, — a  cause  of 
many  forms  of  indisposition,  to  which  the  poor,  living  on 
coarse,  bulky  food,  are  rarely  predisposed. 

DIET. 

There  is  a  medium  course  to  be  pursued  in  diet,  which 
entails  no  disasters,  but  favors  health  and  exemption  from 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  121 

incidental  indispositions,  that  oftener  have  an  origin  in  strong 
coffee,  strong  tea,  and  fine  flour,  than  from  any  other 
cause. 

Too  cold  or  too  hot  are  extremes  in  taking  food.  By- 
cooking,  all  food  is  not  only  softened,  and  therefore  made 
easier  for  digestion,  but  it  destroys,  by  frying,  baking,  stew- 
ing, etc.,  parasites  which  abound  in  meats,  fruits,  and  garden 
vegetables.  Their  eggs,  too  small  to  be  seen  without  a 
microscope,  are  spread  over  and  through  almost  every  edible 
from  the  market  by  millions.  Savages  who  take  their  food 
raw,  or  in  a  very  crude  state,  are  subject  to  a  variety  of 
intestinal  difficulties.  But  their  white,  even,  sound  teeth 
show  that  they  never  have  been  subjected  to  the  destructive 
action  of  hot  drinks,  concentrated  acids,  or  beverages,  which 
attack  the  enamel. 

Perhaps  the  characteristic  ferocity  of  savages  is  due  to 
an  almost  exclusive  meat-diet.  Fishing  and  the  chase,  for 
supplies,  is  their  principal  employment.  Fruits  and  vege- 
tables are  uncertain  resources.  Those  they  have  are  usually 
of  spontaneous  growth,  with  the  exception  of  Indian  corn, 
which  is  never  cultivated  in  sufficient  amount  to  supersede 
the  necessity  of  ranging  the  forests  for  wild  animals. 


THE  METHOD  OF  LIVING. 

Having  explained  the  dangers  to  which  young  ladies  are  ex- 
posed, who  deal  too  freely  with  vinegar,  we  now  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  the  true  way  of  living,  for  securing  sound 
health  and  beauty  of  form. 

Fish  is  both  wholesome  and  nutritious.  From  very  respect- 
able authority  it  has  been  taught  that  the  brain  is  especially 


122  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

benefited  by  it.  Whether  iodine,  phosphate  of  lime,  or  pure 
phosphorus  is  taken  from  it  by  the  absorbents,  and  carried  to 
that  particular  organ,  requires  more  decided  evidence  than  has 
yet  been  adduced. 

In  the  history  of  fisheries,  fishermen  have  been  distinguished 
for  their  bold,  hardy,  adventursome  spirit,  good  nature,  and 
indomitable  force  of  character.  They  brave  storms,  breast 
dangers  of  the  sea,  and  in  ships  of  war,  their  spirit,  gallantry, 
and  reliability  are  acknowledged. 

Mountaineers  are  another  representative  class.  They  are 
lovers  of  liberty,  fearless,  and  the  best  of  soldiers.  Fresh  air, 
plain  food,  and  few  wants,  easily  supplied,  are  excellent  founda- 
tions for  a  vigorous  constitution  and  mental  activity. 

Food  has  very  much  to  do  in  the.  formation  of  character. 
With  a  strong,  well-developed  body,  there  is  usually  a  corre- 
sponding spirit.  A  purely  vegetable  diet  is  not  conducive  either 
to  a  sound  body  or  an  active  mind.  Starch-yielding  roots,  as 
potatoes,  arrowroot,  etc.,  will  support  life,  but  they  fur- 
nish neither  corporeal  nor  mental  power.  Combined  with  ani- 
mal aliment,  corn,  wheat,  barley,  beans,  fresh  or  dry,  etc., 
furnish  just  those  elements  required  in  temperate  zones  for 
developing  the  best  intellectual  and  physical  capabilities  of 
man. 

There  is  neither  strength  of  body,  nor  vigor  of  mind,  when 
an  individual  is  kept  upon  one  article  of  food  long  enough  to  be 
loathed.  The  stomach  must  have  variety,  out  of  which  are  taken 
those  substances  required  for  keeping  each  and  every  organ  in 
working  condition. 

Each  particle  elaborated  by  the  vital  chemistry  of  the 
digestive  apparatus,  is  carried  to  the  place  required,  as  attend- 
ants on  bricklayers  transport  mortar  to  the  spot  where  brick 
is  to  be  laid.  When  the  new  particle  arrives,  absorbents  carry 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  123 

away  an  old  one  which  had  been  in  relation  with  others  a 
sufficient  time  for  imparting  its  specific  vitality.  As  soon  as 
that  has  been  extracted  and  appropriated,  another  should 
arrive  to  take  its  place. 

LAW  OF  ASSIMILATION. 

Thus  the  body  is  constantly  undergoing  a  change.  "We  are 
reconstructed  many  times  in  a  single  year.  Even  the  solid 
bones  are  gradually  removed,  particle  after  particle,  so  gradually 
and  cautiously,  that  the  fabric  is  neither  weakened  nor  left  ex- 
posed to  dangers  on  that  account. 

Many  times  in  an  ordinary  life  of  seventy  years,  the  skele- 
ton of  every  one  reaching  that  age  has  been  repeatedly  re- 
newed. This  perpetual  removal  and  introduction  of  new 
materials  explains  the  rationale  of  eating  and  drinking.  It  is 
simply  furnishing  a  crude  mass,  from  which  are  selected  such 
parts  as  can  be  introduced  into  a  living  system  vitalized  and 
assimilated. 

A  custom  prevails  of  serving  rare  or  uncooked  meats,  under 
an  impression  that  they  are  more  easily  convertible  into  nourish- 
ment. If  cooked  too  much,  the  quality  is  imagined  injured. 
Thus,  underdone  expresses  a  condition  that  favors  digestion, 
while  overdone  means  that  it  is  not  readily  dissolved  in  the 
stomach,  and,  therefore,  is  not  as  nutritious. 

Neither  extreme  expedites,  or  essentially  retards,  digestion, 
since  the  solvent  properties  of  the  gastric  juice  act  with  equal 
potency  on  either.  By  habit,  if  a  person  has  been  accustomed 
to  hard-cooked  meats,  the  stomach  is  prepared  to  receive  that 
kind  of  preparation,  and  that  which  is  rare  would  not  be  acted 
upon  so  readily  ;  and  vice  versa. 

Soft-boiled  eggs  are  usually  served,   because  a  notion  is 


124:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

extensively  entertained  that  the  stomach  sooner  reduces  them 
to  chyme.  But  a  hard-boiled  egg  dissolves  just  as  quickly,  and 
yet,  the  egg-eaters  are  astonished  at  the  suggestion  that  it  is  of 
no  kind  of  importance  whether  eggs  are  hard  or  soft.  Either 
way,  they  are  quickly  disposed  of  in  the  interior  of  that  mar- 
vellous organ, — a  human  stomach. 

Civilization,  among  other  advantages  over  barbarism,  re- 
quires that  cooking  should  modify  articles  of  diet.  Cooking, 
too,  destroys  parasites  which  infest  almost  every  thing  in  the 
catalogue  of  food.  When  introduced  alive  into  the  alimentary 
canal,  the  consequences  are  graver  than  when  their  ova  are 
swallowed,  which  may  not  remain  long  enough  for  incubation. 

In  raw  food,  especially  meats  so  rare  as  to  be  hardly  warmed 
through,  eggs  of  the  tapeworm  and  the  trichinus  are  actually 
introduced  into  the  system.  Rare  meats,  therefore,  are  objec- 
tionable on  that  account.  Well-cooked  food  is  safest. 

BUTTER  AND  SUGAR. 

Butter  contains  materials  for  the  reparation  of  teeth.  Chil- 
dren are  notoriously  importunate  for  it,  urged  on  by  instinct, 
too  frequently  interdicted  by  model  mothers  on  the  unfounded 
presumption  it  is  too  hearty  for  them.  That  it  spoils  their 
teeth  and  their  complexion,  are  reasons  given  for  denying  it  to 
them. 

They  would  have  better  teeth  for  having  as  much  butter  as 
they  desire.  Egyptian  taskmasters  were  told  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  make  brick  without  straw,  and  it  is  equally  difficult 
to  have  good  teeth  without  phospate  of  lime,  which  belongs  to 
the  composition  of  butter. 

Sugar,  too,  is  usually  withheld  from  children,  who  invariably 
crave  it  in  far  larger  amount  than  it  is  given  them.  ~No  demand 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  125 

of  .the  system  is  more  urgent  than  a  desire  for  sugar.  It  can- 
not be  overcome.  Locking  pantries,  threatened  punishment  for 
invading  sugar-bowls,  never  overcame  the  relish  for  it  in  small 
children. 

The  body  requires  sugar,  and  it  must  be  had  from  some 
source.  It  is  provided  liberally  in  a  mother's  milk  for  her  nurs- 
ing babe.  While  thus  fed,  the  infant  is  plump,  round,  and  cer- 
tainly lovely.  When  weaned,  its  dimpled  cheeks  fall  away, 
the  fat  limbs  lose  their  form,  diminish  in  size,  and  the  whole 
figure  becomes  more  muscular. 

Put  upon  a  new  diet,  the  quantity  of  sugar  is  much  less 
than  they  had  been  receiving  from  a  maternal  source.  So  im- 
perative is  the  appetite  for  sugar,  that  if  not  supplied  in  their 
food  in  the  quantity  required  for  the  purposes  of  nature,  a  sugar 
mill  is  set  in  motion  in  the  abdomen  of  land  animals,  and 
especially  so  in  ourselves,  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency.  This 
is  one  of  the  curiosities  of  organic  life. 

Every  animal  requires  sugar.  Some  in  larger  quantities 
than  others,  but  not  one  of  them  can  do  without  some.  Grass, 
hay,  grain,  rice,  potatoes,  beets,  carrots,  etc.,  contain  it.  By 
chewing  and  mixing  with  secretions  in  the  mouth  and 
throat,  food  is  prepared  for  digestion ;  and  when  the  essential 
properties  finally  mix  with  blood,  there  is  extracted  from  it 
sugar. 

In  the  liver,  dark  venous  blood  is  redistributed.  While  pass- 
ing through  the  vessels,  there  is  extracted  from  it  bile.  This 
was  long  supposed  to  be  the  specific  ofiice  of  the  liver.  But  it 
is  made  certain  that  the  liver  is  a  sugar-mill  also.  It  supplies 
sugar  rapidly,  and  the  quantity  made  in  a  given  time  is  perfectly 
amazing. 

Whenever  the  supply  is  not  equal  to  the  requirements  of 
their  system,  the  deficiency  is  made  up  by  a  more  active  elabor- 


126  THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN. 

ation  of  it  in  the  liver.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  and  must 
come  from  some  source,  or  a  disturbance  in  the  balance-wheel 
of  life  will  soon  be  perceived ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  true  cause 
of  waning  health  under  such  circumstances  is  not  often  un- 
derstood. 

Food  should  not  be  too  compact.  It  is  really  an  important 
point  that  it  should  have  bulk  enough  to  distend  the  stomach. 
The  stimulus  of  distension  is  a  condition  required  in  the  econ- 
omy of  life,  because  it  facilitates  digestion.  That  solvent  fluid, 
the  gastric  juice,  oozing,  as  it  were,  copiously  from  the  lining 
membrane  of  the  stomach,  cannot  act  so  advantageously  on  its 
contents  in  a  fine,  compact  mass,  as  when  loose  and  more 
readily  permeable.  Maceration,  that  is,  simply  being  in  contact 
with  that  secretion,  is  not  perfect  digestion.  "When  there  is 
bulk  sufficient,  at  least,  to  press  the  membranous  walls  of  the 
stomach  asunder,  it  quickens  the  muscular  fibres  to  contact, 
which  rolls  the  ingesta  from  one  part  of  the  sac  to  the  other, 
and  thus  brings  new  surfaces  to  the  more  direct  action  of  the 
solvent. 

HEALTH  OF  LABOEEKS. 

Laborers,  sustained  on  coarse  nourishment,  have  far  better 
physical  development,  more  strength,  richer  blood,  and  a  far 
higher  condition  of  health  than  their  opulent  employers,  whose 
tables  are  laden  with  delicacies  their  servants  and  dependents 
may  never  have  had  the  gratification  of  tasting. 

Neither  horses  nor  cattle  can  be  sustained  on  concentrated 
food  without  seriously  injuring  them.  Carnivorous  animals 
have  more  compact  aliment,  but  in  them  distension  of  the 
stomach  is  requisite  for  successful  digestion.  Feeding  oats, 
barley,  or  any  other  grain  to  horses,  exclusively,  would  soon  be 
followed  by  gastritis,  that  would  terminate  fatally.  The  walls 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  127 

of  their  stomach  must  be  alternately  distended  and  contracted, 
to  keep  it  in  working  condition.  Meal  alone,  without  hay, 
husks,  or  some  equivalent,  would  not  sustain  a  cow  or  an  ox. 

A  dog,  imprisoned  in  the  cabin  of  a  cast-away  vessel,  which 
floated  about  at  random,  after  being  abandoned  by  the  men, 
was  found  alive  on  the  twenty-third  day.  Although  the  poor 
creature  had  not  a  particle  of  nourishment  in  all  that  time,  his 
life  was  preserved  by  the  thick  covers  of  a  Bible,  which  he 
gnawed  ravenously.  But  they  afforded  no  nourishment.  He 
lived  on  his  own  fat  and  marrow,  which  kept  the  lamp  of  life 
flickering,  while  the  stimulus  of  distension  which  tlie  Bible 
covers  provided  saved  the  prisoner. 

A  KEFERENCE  TO  CONTINGENCIES. 

In  the  anatomical  construction  of  animals,  if  appears  as 
though  a  special  reference  was  made  to  a  possible  contingency, 
in  regard  to  a  temporary  supply  of  nourishment,  by  filling 
hollow  bones  with  marrow,  and  cavities  among  muscles  with 
fat.  This  is  more  marked  in  some  than  in  others,  which  really 
seem  to  have  had  in  view  the  possibility  of  the  danger  of  star- 
vation in  the  circuit  they  were  predestined  to  act.  Thus,  a 
camel's  life  is  considerably  prolonged  in  their  dreary  voyages 
through  deserts,  where  neither  food  nor  water  can  be  procured, 
by  the  absorption  of  fat  from  the  hump  on  the  back.  Their 
ability,  too,  for  carrying  a  supply  of  water  that  serves  from  ten 
to  fifteen  days,  is  an  illustration  of  the  fact,  that  an  animal  may 
temporarily  feed  upon  itself,  till  relief  is  found. 

Birds  die  of  starvation  sooner  than  quadrupeds,  because 
their  bones  being  hollow  for  the  purpose  of  being  filled  with  air 
instead  of  marrow,  are  not  storehouses  against  a  time  of  need, 
as  in  the  other  case.  The  buoyancy  of  feathered  bipeds  is  due 


128  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

to  the  long  bones  being  filled  with  air.  They  communicate 
with  the  tip  of  each  and  every  quill,  so  that  the  barrels  of  all 
the  feathers  are  filled  with  it  also.  If  marrow  was  there  instead 
of  air,  they  could  not  fly.  They  could  not  have  the  same  aerial 
freedom  and  levity. 

Warmth  of  the  body  rarifies  the  air  thus  inclosed,  and  with 
motion  the  temperature  is  raised,  which  still  further  rarifies 
it,  so  that  the  longer  they  are  on  the  wing,  the  easier  they 
move.  A  wild  goose  is  said  to  fly  more  easily  the  second  day, 
on  one  of  their  semi-annual  migrations  from  south  to  north  and 
back,  than  when  the  jaunt  is  commenced. 

There  is  a  designing  Power  recognized  in  all  these  varied 
provisions  for  the  preservation,  not  only  of  individual  life,  but 
also  for  the  perpetuity  of  races. 

EECRUITI^G  CITIES. 

Cities  are  largely  recruited  from  the  country.  New-comers 
arrive  in  the  freshness  and  earnestness  of  health.  They  leave 
homes  where  they  breathed  a  pure  atmosphere,  and  subsisted 
on  plain  wholesome  food.  With  what  is  conceived  to  be  a 
bettering  of  their  circumstances,  on  changing  locality,  they  in- 
dulge in  seasoned  dishes,  anomalous  soups  and  delicacies  quite 
unknown  to  the  family  from  whence  they  came.  A  morbid 
taste  is  soon  engendered,  -which  craves  repetition,  till  the  rosy- 
cheeked  clerk,  or  the  blooming  young  lady,  transported  from  a 
residence  in  a  distant  village  to  become  the  presiding  goddess 
of  a  palace,  have  uneasy  sensations.  Their  conversation  is 
principally  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  what  is  good  or  bad  for 
digestion,  and  they  soon  begin  to  discourse  upon  what  may  or 
may  not  be  eaten  with  impunity.  Next,  medical  advice. 

There  follows  a  physical  deterioration  of  women,  on  their 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  129 

transference  to  cities  from  rural  homes  in  the  country.  When 
they  pass  half  the  night  at  an  opera,  dine  near  their  original 
bed-time,  admire  champagne  as  a  beverage,  taking  no  open-air 
exercise,  except  in  a  carriage,  formerly  enjoyed  on  foot  over 
green  fields,  chatting  with  pleasant,  unsophisticated  neighbors, 
as  lovely  as  themselves,  they  fail.  At  last,  with  all  their  pros- 
perity in  social  position,  they  are  changed  into  pale,  sickly,  feeble 
fashionables,  whose  fingers,  once  round,  full,  and  flexible,  are 
reduced  to  the  appearance  of  birds'  claws.  Sparkling  diamond 
rings  are  not  an  equivalent  for  what  they  have  lost.  Artificial 
teeth,  and  perhaps  a  wig,  made  of  the  hair  of  some  poor  wretch 
who  sold  it  to  keep  from  starvation,  shows  what'  influence  city 
life  may  have  in  the  transformation  of  a  beautiful  woman  to  a 
pining,  complaining,  sickly  lady. 

Should  they  become  mothers,  their  children  are  direct  in- 
heritors of  their  infirmities,  the  penalty  of  irregularities  not 
catalogued  as  dissipations,  but  which  are  conditions  invariably 
resulting  from  violations  of  the  laws  of  health. 

Without  dwelling  on  the  importance  of  abstaining  from 
highly-seasoned,  concentrated  aliment  for  young  ladies,  it  is 
obvious  that  they  would  have  finer  forms,  health,  and,  conse- 
quently, brighter  mental  development,  by  subsisting  on  plain 
food.  It  is  surprising  that  parents  cannot  be  persuaded  to 
adopt  a  system  that  promises,  with  moral  certainty,  to  secure  for 
their  daughters  sound  health,  the  foundation  for  happiness. 

Reformers  are  pointedly  severe  against  some  of  the  courses 
which  we  maintain  are  to  be  encouraged  in  the  rearing  of  young 
girls.  They  are  opposed  to  many  exercises  which  are  not  asso- 
ciated with  some  kind  of  productive  industry.  In  their  short- 
sightedness, they  discover  no  utility  in  a  simple  promenade  for 
exercise,  unless  a  miss  is  armed  with  knitting-needles,  or  is 
reading  some  solid  work — like  their  own  stupid  productions. 


130  THE   WAYS  OF   WOMEN. 

Street  yarn-spinning  is  not  sinful.  It  is  profitable  to  walk 
the  streets  and  see  new  objects.  While  all  the  muscles  are 
in  play,  shop-window  impressions  call  into  action  all  parts  of 
the  brain,  which  is  as  necessary  for  its  good  condition,  as 
wholesome  food  is  for  the  stomach.  If  the  eye  is  con- 
tinually greeted  with  the  same  objects,  or  the  ear  has  only  a 
repetition  of  one  class  of  sounds,  neither  of  them  will  have  the 
power  they  would  have  by  varying  both  sights  and  sounds.  If 
the  brain  is  always  acting  in  one  direction,  millions  of  its  fibres 
are  lying  idle. 

The  whole  of  us,  as  often  inculcated  in  this  work,  must 
be  used,  or  we  cannot  be  developed  into  what  we  may  have 
been.  Notwithstanding  the  severity  with  which  street- 
walking  for  exercise  is  treated  by  those  who  cannot  appre- 
ciate the  value  of  it  in  training  body  and  mind,  streets  have 
not  been  depopulated  by  the  cogency  of  their  arguments. 
Streets  of  cities  are  inviting  pathways,  and  those  windmill 
warriors  who  have  discovered  that  woman's  appropriate 
sphere  is  in  the  house  exclusively,  will  never  succeed  in 
debarring  them  from  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  spin- 
ning street-yarn. 

Exercise  is  so  essential,  it  should  always  be  encouraged, 
especially  on  foot.  When  neglected,  medicines  and  profes- 
sional attentions  are  pretty  sure  to  be  in  request.  Sedentary 
employments,  or  no  employments,"  are  equally  pernicious, 
and  are  certain  to  be  followed  by  derangements  which  would 
not  have  occurred  had  there  been  a  sufficient  amount  of 
labor  for  the  locomotive  machinery.  Simply  passing  through 
the  air,  reclining  at  ease  in  a  carriage,  does  not  meet  all  the 
requirements  of  a  living  being. 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

INCKEASE  OF  KESTAL  DIFFICULTIES. 

Renal  complaints  increase  in  proportion  to  the  neglect  of 
moving  about  on  foot.  The  kidneys  have  a  special  office 
assigned  them,  of  selecting  out  of  the  blood  whatever  is  unsafe 
to  be  circulated  throughout  the  system. 

There  is  but  one  direct  and  prompt  way  by  which  noxious 
elements  taken  with  our  food  can  be  conveyed  away  and 
thrown  out,  the  retention  of  which  would  be  injurious.  It  is, 
first,  to  dissolve  them.  Mixed  with  the  chyle,  they  are  thus 
introduced  into  the  circulation,  and  sent  to  the  kidneys. 
Whatever  ought  not  to  go  further  is  intercepted  by  them,  and 
separated  from  arterial  blood,  to  be  conveyed  to  the  bladder, 
from  whence  it  is  voided.  Therefore,  the  function  of  the 
kidneys  is  to  be  always  in  action,  and  never  at  rest.  As  the 
blood  never  ceases  flowing  in  the  vessels  while  there  is  life, 
the  kidneys  are  alaways  laboring  without  cessation. 

By  free  foot-exercise  the  kidneys  are  very  much  assisted 
in  their  labors.  Indeed,  all  secretions  and  vital  processes 
are  facilitated  by  it.  Excessive  indulgence  in  all  malt  or 
spirituous  liquors,  which  are  but  too  apt  to  stimulate  the  organs 
unduly,  or,  indeed,  in  any  of  those  beverages  palmed  off  on  the 
unreflecting  public  as  genuine,  although  really  poisonous  imi- 
tations, is  very  often  the  cause  of  a  diseased  condition  of  the 
renal  glands. 

The  kidneys  are  vigilant  sentinels  that  never  slumber  on 
their  post.  They  carefully  separate  and  send  away  that  which 
would  positively  lead  to  derangement  of  other  functions,  if 
allowed  to  remain  unseparated.  Even  when  collected  in  the 
bladder,  the  necessity  of  relieving  that  receptacle  soon  be- 
comes urgent ;  showing  that  what  it  holds,  even  thus  secured, 
cannot  be  retained  there  more  than  a  few  hours,  without 
producing  immense  disturbance. 


132  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN 

Over-wrought  brains,  like  over-worked  kidneys,  might 
have  been  avoided.  Abstaining  from  drinks  that  excite  the 
kidneys  to  excess,  is  an  indispensable  condition  to  the  health  of 
those  organs. 

A  repetition  of  the  lesson  we  are  desirous  of  inculcating  is 
pardonable,  on  account  of  its  importance  to  youth.  Simplicity 
in  diet, — that  is,  plain  wholesome  food,  thoroughly  cooked,—- 
is  best  for  young  girls,  because  it  will  secure  for  them  a 
sound  frame,  and  a  clear  intellect. 

If  they  would  adhere  to  those  early  habits  which  are 
usually  customary  in  the  country,  after  a  removal  to 
spheres  of  excitement,  characteristic  of  what  is  thought, 
unfortunately,  to  be  elevated  social  relations,  they  would  be 
incalculable  gainers.  If  they  expect  to  escape  neuralgic  pains, 
a  sallow  compexion,  loss  of  hair,  decay  of  teeth,  a  wrinkled 
brow,  waning  vision,  yellow  moth-blotches  where  formerly 
there  were  tints  of  beauty,  they  must  avoid  the  causes  that 
produce  those  dreadful  misfortunes.  Whatever  vitiates  or 
impoverishes  the  blood,  or  over-excites  the  brain,  diminishes 
the  capacity  for  rational  enjoyment ;  and  a  weak  body,  a 
debilitated  mind,  and  premature  death  are  the  penalties 
annexed  to  the  violation  of  the  ordinary  laws  of  health. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

How  THEY  SHOULD  SLEEP. 

Sleep  Necessary  to  all  Animals— Sleep  of  Insects— Somnambulism— No  Best 
for  the  Glandular  System— Repose  of  Children— Should  Sleep  Alone- 
Transfer  of  Vitality— Marriage  of  Old  with  Young  Persons— Should  be 
near  of  an  Age — Reason  Why — Females  in  Factories,  etc. 

LITTLE  or  no  thought  is  bestowed  upon  sleep,  although  a 
condition  necessary  for  the  health  of  every  animated  being. 
Man  sleeps;  beasts,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  insects,  and  even 
plants  sleep.  It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  live  without  it. 
While  unconscious  and  in  perfect  repose,  a  recuperation  is  going 
on,  rendered  necessary  from  fatigue  and  a  waste  of  vital  force 
expended  while  awake.  It  is  only  in  sleep  there  is  a  perfect 
recovery  of  something  of  that  essential  part  of  life  which  has 
been  lost. 

How  or  why  we  sleep  excites  no  particular  attention ;  but 
the  place  where  repose  is  sought,  and  its  surroundings,  is  an 
important  subject  for  consideration. 

Nearly  one-third  of  the  allotted  span  of  existence  is  passed 
unconsciously,  with  closed  eyes.  The  body  should  be  in  a 
horizontal  position  to  have  the  full  benefit  accruing  from  it. 

The  lower  animals  sleep  rather  more  than  one-third  of  their 
lives.  Keptiles,  according  to  the  climate,  even  more.  Hiber- 
nates, in  a  sort  of  apoplectic  repose,  sleep  heavily  in  northern 
latitudes,  three  or  four  months  in  succession.  Alligators  have 
a  long  slumber  in  the  mud  through  a  season  most  favorable 
for  maturing  their  eggs,  to  be  extruded  on  the  return  of  a 
genial  vernal  sun. 


134  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Insects  have  their  period  of  sleep,  as  profound,  while  it 
continues,  in  a  house-fly,  as  an  after-dinner  nap  of  an  alderman 
who  engorges  himself  at  the  expense  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

SOMNAMBULISM. 

Somnambulic  unconsciousness  is  an  irregular  working  of  the 
brain,  which  calls  muscles  into  orderly  action  without  the  con- 
trolling will-power,  necessary  for  conscious  relations  to  time 
and  place,  for  the  security  of  the  individual.  Yolition  is  par- 
tially suspended,  and  yet  acts  are  performed  while  in  that 
anomalous  state,  which  so  nearly  approximate  true  volitions, 
that  it  perplexes,  philosophers  in  their  attempts  at  a  rationale  of 
what  transpires  during  its  continuance. 

Occasionally  somnambulists  perform  extraordinary  feats  of 
daring  without  knowing  it,  or  rarely  having  even  a  dreamy, 
confused  recollection  of  what  they  may  have  done  during  a 
night  ramble,  in  safety,  where  they  would  have  feared  to  tread 
in  waking  hours.  This  happens,  as  frequently  as  otherwise,  in 
the  darkest  part  of  a  moonless  night. 

There  are  cases  on  authentic  record  in  which  a  lady  carried 
a  lighted  candle,  and  cautiously  walked  over  a  rapid  stream, 
where  she  would  not  have  dared  to  venture  in  full  possession  of 
her  senses. 

Some  faculty  of  the  brain,  yet  to  be  discovered,  is  in  action 
during  such  exhibitions.  Vision  guides  the  footsteps  of  the 
somnambulist  through  dangerous  passes,  and  the  motor  nerves 
obey  the  commands  of  the  encephalon.  "When  locomotive 
muscles  receive  a  message,  another  set  of  nerves  express  back 
to  the  central  station,  within  the  skull,  the  reception  of  the 
order,  followed  by  the  required  movements.  All  this  tran- 
spires without  consciousness,  as  though  an  independent  mind 
were  directing  the  machinery  while  the  other  was  slumbering. 


THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN.  135 

The  immortal,  indestructible  entity — the  soul — also  reposes. 
This  is  inferred  from  the  simple  fact  that  unconsciousness, 
really  and  unquestionably,  is  sleep.  "We  are  obliged  to  express 
that  condition  by  the  word  sleep,  since  no  better  term  can  be 
found  that  carries  with  it  a  more  comprehensive  meaning. 

ORGANIC  LIFE. 

While  the  organic  mechanism  by  which  life  is  sustained 
remains  unimpaired,  the  current  of  vitality  flows  on  uninter- 
ruptedly, indepent  of  volition.  To  a  limited  extent,  it  is  quite 
beyond  its  control.  Thus,  the  heart  beats  from  the  first  moment 
of  foetal  existence,  months  before  birth,  till  the  last  expiring 
breath,  not  unf requently  one  hundred  years ;  and  through  that 
long  period  no  effort  of  the  will  can  arrest  its  pulsations. 

We  may  hold  the  lungs  from  inflating  by  expelling  the  air 
a  few  moments ;  and,  by  practice,  pearl-divers  suspend  respira- 
tion an  incredibly  long  time,  but  vital  necessity  obliges  them  to 
come  to  the  surface  in  about  five  minutes. 

In  sleep,  the  mind  has  no  directing  influence  over  the  infla- 
tion or  expulsion  of  air  from  the  lungs.  The  circulation  of 
blood,  the  contractions  of  the  heart,  and  the  return  of  venous 
blood  from  the  extremities  for  revitalization,  cannot  be  checked 
or  accelerated  by  will-force.  A  sudden  surprise,  painful  intel- 
ligence, or  pleasurable  communications,  however,  singularly 
quicken  or  retard  arterial  action. 

Neither  the  heart,  stomach,  kidneys,  nor  any  of  the  gland- 
ular bodies  interspersed  through  the  abdominal  cavity,  are 
supposed  to  have  any  rest  or  suspension  from  labor.  They 
work  continually  without  relaxation.  Muscles,  on  the  contrary, 
must  have  rest.  The  brain  must  have  relaxation  in  sleep ;  and 
the  soul,  too,  if  confidence  is  to  be  placed  in  the  deductions  of 
science,  demands  undisturbed  periods  of  repose. 


136  THE   WAYS   OF  WOMEX. 

In  dreams,  the  mind  does  not  have  perfect  repose.  It  is  not 
refreshed  under  a  state  of  emotional  disturbance,  and,  hence,  we 
complain  of  not  having  had  a  refreshing  slumber.  If  the  mind 
is  not  as  completely  quiescent  and  oblivious  in  sleep,  as  the 
voluntary  muscles  which  it  controls,  then  it  is  but  imperfectly 
recruited.  Long-continued  seasons  of  imperfect  sleep  lead  to 
grave  consequences,  such  as  impaired  vitality,  nervous  debility, 
and,  if  no  relief  is  had,  to  insanity. 

Travellers  describe  the  punishment  inflicted  in  China  on 
criminals  sentenced  to  be  kept  awake  till  they  die,  as  the  most 
terrible  punishment  ever  devised  by  the  diabolical  ingenuity  of 
man,  for  tormenting  a  fellow-being.  The  closing  scenes  of  the 
shocking  condition  to  which  the  unhappy  prisoner  is  reduced, 
are  painful  in  the  extreme.  He  finally  becomes  insensible  to 
almost  every  form  of  torture  that  can  be  inflicted  to  keep  him 
awake,  and  dies  at  last,  about  the  fifteenth  day,  in  awful  misery. 

Two  criminals  in  Russia,  not  many  years  since,  were  made 
the  subjects  of  a  scientific  experiment  in  regard  to  the  value  of 
sleep  in  the  maintenance  of  life.  They  were  kept  awake  with 
the  utmost  difficulty,  after  eighty  hours.  What  fiendish 
cruelties  were  practised  on  the  wretched  creatures  beyond 
wedging  their  heads,  so  as  to  be  continually  receiving  droppings 
of  cold  water,  has  not  been  revealed ;  but  on  the  nineteenth 
day,  death  mercifully  terminated  their  misery.  Such  punish- 
ment is  a  disgrace  to  any  country,  and  too  shocking  to  be 
tolerated  where  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  rulers. 

CONSTITUTIONAL   STAMINA. 

A  sound  constitution  must  have  its  beginning  in  childhood. 
Small  girls,  anywhere  from  three  years  to  ten,  should  sleep  in 
good-sized  airy  rooms.  It  is  not  always  possible  or  convenient 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  137 

to  provide  them  spacious  apartments,  but  it  is  possible  to  ven- 
tilate their  dormitories  thoroughly  daily,  in  a  house  with  doors 
and  windows.  On  a  free  introduction  of  air,  vital  elasticity  and 
recuperation  of  the  sleeper  mainly  depends.  Of  the  value  of 
an  uncontaminated  atmosphere,  no  one  entertains  a  doubt ; 
therefore,  the  discussion  of  a  subject  so  frequently  before  the 
public  as  ventilation,  is  passed  over  in  silence,  its  importance 
being  understood,  and  everywhere  appreciated. 

When  too  many  persons  occupy  the  same  apartment,  even  if 
of  large  dimensions,  the  vitality  of  the  air  is  ultimately 
diminished  very  considerably,  which  is  recognized  by  an  in- 
creased temperature,  perspiration,  and  physical  exhaustion. 
Small  rooms,  in  the  occupancy  of  two  persons,  are  soon  in  a 
similar  state,  if  no  fresh  supply  is  regularly  admitted. 

Two  children  sleeping  in  separate  beds  thrive  better  than 
when  together  in  the  same  bed,  even  in  a  spacious  room,  high 
studded,  and  in  other  respects  appropriate,  because  they  are 
kept  from  inhaling  each  other's  breath,  hardly  to  be  avoided  in 
their  unconscious  relations  in  sound  sleep. 

Expired  air  is  charged  with  elements  deleterious  to  other 
lungs,  and  especially  so  if  from  a  person  indisposed  or  sick. 
Expired  air  directly  from  the  mouth  or  nostrils  is  deprived  of 
all  its  vital  properties.  If  inhaled  into  the  lungs  of  another,  it 
is  particularly  injurious.  ~No  doubt,  many  painful  forms  of 
sickness  in  children,  which  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  familiar 
principles,  have  an  origin  in  the  baneful  inhalation  of  another's 
breath. 

A  lady  exposed  to  incidental  inhalations  of  the  offensive 
breath  of  a  smoking  husband,  or  one  whose  expirations  are  laden 
with  alcoholic  odors,  is  liable  to  various  forms  of  indisposition, 
the  result  of  Nature's  efforts  to  drive  out  of  her  system  the  cause 
of  disturbance. 


138  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Expired  air  is  deprived  of  oxygen,  the  pabulum  of  life, 
while  carbonic  acid,  destructive  to  life  in  its  highest  forms,  con- 
stitutes the  volume  of  breath  thus  expelled  from  the  lungs, 
mixed  with  aqueous  vapor  and  impurities,  which  chemistry 
detects.  Other  vile  products,  traceable  to  tobacco  and  whiskey, 
are  also  carried  off  in  the  breath. 

When  such  expired  compositions  are  drawn  into  the  sound 
chest  of  a  sleeping  companion,  although  only  occasionally,  an 
incalculable  amount  of  future  suffering  may  be  thus  unsuspect- 
edly  commenced,  which  medical  skill  cannot  always  successfully 
control. 

Growth,  strength,  and  the  regularity  of  organic  functions, 
perfect  nutrition  and  mental  development,  are  each  and  all  of 
them  defective,  if  the  air  is  charged  with  deleterious  elements, 
or  simply  deprived  of  oxygen. 

Each  one  is  entitled  to  as  much  pure  air  as  their  organization 
requires, — the  lungs  being  the  instruments  for  separating  the 
constituents  of  which  it  is  formed,  and  conveying  such  elements 
into  the  circulation  as  support  life,  and  rejecting  those  which 
are  noxious. 

TRANSFERENCE  OF  VITALITY. 

A  pale,  feeble,  sickly  appearance  of  children,  whose  debility 
cannot  be  clearly  accounted  for,  and  made  the  more  mysterious 
from  having  a  sound  healthy  parentage,  not  unfrequently  are 
amply  provided  with  all  the  appliances  for  their  comfort  with 
one  single  exception, — their  sleeping-room. 

It  is  a  wise  precaution,  therefore,  to  place  girls  in  separate 
beds,  and  better  still,  give  each  one  a  room  exclusively  to  herself. 
Neither  is  it  proper  for  sufficient  reasons  that  might  be  given, 
for  children  of  different  ages  to  sleep  in  the  same  bed,  even  when 
ventilation  and  the  dimensions  of  the  apartment  are  satisfactory. 


THE   WAYS  OF   WOMEN.  139 

"When  two  children  are  thus  associated  for  eight  dr  ten 
hours,  it  has  been  ascertained  that,  if  either  becomes  indisposed, 
it  is  usually  the  youngest,  although  both  were  in  the  beginning 
equally  well  and  robust. 

Physicians  recognize  a  law  of  which  very  little  is  known  be- 
yond the  effects  resulting  from  imprudence,  in  placing  persons 
of  different  ages  under  circumstances  which  lead  to  an  actual 
transference  of  vitality  from  one  to  the  other,  at  the  expense 
of  the  one  from  whom  it  is  drawn. 

By  placing  a  strong  and  a  feeble  child  in  bed  together,  after 
a  few  months  the  latter  will  profit  physically,  while  the  other 
will  lose  some  of  its  former  freshness  and  vigor.  If  a  sound, 
plump,  healthy  child  sleep  with  an  emaciated,  sickly,  or  aged 
person,  the  former  becomes  indisposed.  Therefore,  children  of 
a  tender  age  should  not  be  the  bed  companions  of  aged  aunts 
or  grandmothers. 

Sometimes  a  blooming  child  is  unaccountably  reduced  in 
strength,  loses  its  rosy  cheeks,  and  moves  about  languidly, 
losing  its  relish  for  food, — which  may  result  from  sleeping  with 
an  aged  person. 

A  feeble,  attenuated  woman,  advanced  in  years,  will  won- 
derfulty  recruit  by  sleeping  with  a  healthy  child.  She  myste- 
riously imbibes  vital  force  from  the  innocent  in  her  withered 
arms. 

How  that  subtle  something  that  passes  from  one  to  the 
other  is  transferred,  or  what  it  is, — has  not  yet  been  philosophi- 
cally demonstrated.  The  fact,  however,  that  some  property 
does  escape  from  one,  and  is  taken  up  by  the  other,  is  not  ques- 
tioned by  medical  men. 

It  is  not  judicious,  therefore,  to  have  a  nurse  who  has 
passed  beyond  the  middle  age  of  life,  for  an  infant.  She  will 
take  from  the  child,  by  this  law  of  transference,  more  than  the 


140  THE  WAYS  OP  WOMEN. 

child  will  receive  from  her.  It  is  equally  unsafe  to  place  chil- 
dren of  a  tender  age  in  sleeping-rooms,  or  in  bed  with  servants 
or  nurses  who  are  ten  and  fifteen  years  older,  or  have  sallow 
complexions,  decayed  teeth,  a  bad  breath,  or  peculiar  habits  of 
any  kind. 

These  precautions  have  express  reference  to  young  female 
children.  But  it  would  be  equally  injudicious  to  permit  an 
athlethic,  energetic  boy  to  be  the  habitual  bed-fellow  of  his 
grandfather. 

Such  violations  of  the  general  laws  of  health  are  not  so 
common  in  regard  to  boys  as  girls.  Aged  women  are  particu- 
larly fond  of  sleeping  with  their  young  kindred.  Their 
sympathies  are'  active,  and  their  love  for  the  society  of 
children  rather  increases  than  diminishes  with  the  progress 
of  years. 

The  extraction  of  vitality  was  far  better  understood  by  the 
Jews  at  an  early  historical  period,  than  by  modern  teachers  of 
hygienic  laws,  with  all  the  assistance  and  appliances  of  modern 
discoveries. 

"When  King  David  was  waning  in  health,  and  the  alarm 
spreading  that  his  life  was  in  danger,  on  the  philosophical 
principle  recognized  in  this  chapter,  effort  was  made  in 
his  behalf  to  transfuse  vitality  into  the  monarch's  cold  and 
fragile  body,  by  taking  it  from  a  very  select  source.  But  the 
hopeful  experiment  was  deferred  too  long.  He  could  gather 
no  warmth,  in  the  language  of  the  sacred  narrative,  and  the 
king  gave  up  the  ghost.  The  theory  was  correct,  but  it  was 
put  in  practice  too  late  to  be  of  service. 

When  a  young  man,  for  the  worldly  consideration  of  pro- 
perty, weds  a  woman  old  enough  to  be  his  mother,  she  will 
gain  by  the  contract  in  health.  Repeated  instances  of  ill- 
assorted  marriages  of  that  description  have  established  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

fact,  that  the  husband  will  decline  in  health,  with  all  his 
advantages  of  youth,  and  generally  die  first.  His  vitality  is 
transferred. 

This  may  be  novel  intelligence  to  those  who  are  more 
intent  upon  bettering  their  financial  circumstances  by  matri- 
mony, than  in  securing  happiness  in  that  sacred  relation. 

In  those  reprehensible  and  unnatural  matches,  where 
selfishness  is  the  ruling  passion,  an  aged  wife,  in  a  majority 
of  cases,  will  become  a  widow. 

Reversing  the  proposition,  the  husband  being  the  oldest 
by  years  enough  to  have  been  the  father  or  grandfather  of  his 
wife,  although  so  much  her  senior,  may  outlive  his  young 
wife. 

There  are  many  deviations  from  the  principles  laid  down 
in  these  observations,  but  individual  cases  do  not  conflict  at 
all  with  this  peculiar  law  in  reference  to  the  transference  of 
vitality. 

When  a  young  woman  sells  herself  to  a  man  old  enough 
to  be  her  grandfather,  she  puts  her  life  in  jeopardy.  She 
usually  dies  first.  There  are  modifying  circumstances,  some- 
times, that  partially  arrest  the  downward  tendency  to  a  pre- 
mature dissolution,  of  which  the  public  are  ignorant.  Family 
secrets  embody  physiological  problems  more  strange  than 
poetic  fiction.  Of  the  many  who  thus  run  the  gauntlet  for 
luck  in  marital  adventure,  a  few  win  the  race,  living  to  get 
what  they  anticipated — wealth.  When  women  have  attained 
it  by  a  sacrifice,  they  deliberately  survey  the  ground,  and 
select  a  second  husband  more  congenial  to  their  age,  to  fill  an 
hiatus  in  their  affections. 

It  is  a  fearful  risk  to  marry  a  husband  considerably  the 
oldest.  There  should,  be  a  correspondence  in  age,  as  in 
temperament  and  disposition,  to  secure  all  that  a  divine 


142  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

institution  promises  to  those  who  are  guided  by  reason, 
rather  than  impulse,  on  entering  upon  the  solemn  obligations 
of  matrimony. 

LAW  OF  ADAPTATION. 

A  man  should  not  be  much  more  than  nine  years  older 
than  his  wife.  From  four  to  seven  years  the  senior  is  a 
natural  relation,  and  always  insures  a  reasonable  prospect  of 
domestic  happiness.  Their  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral 
natures  then  harmonize  most  satisfactorily. 

Leaving  out  ambitious  views  in  regard  to  .advantageous 
alliances,  from  a  selfish  determination  to  sacrifice  yearnings 
of  the  heart  for  pecuniary  power,  if  the  husband  is  a  few 
years  older  than  his  wife,  both  parties  will  have  more  domestic 
comfort  than  when  madam  is  the  senior. 

In  regard  to  sleep,  as  especially  belonging  to  the  domain 
of  health, — it  may  be  received  without  qualification,  as  both 
sound  and  reasonable,  that  two  women  accustomed  to  sleep 
together  would  escape  many  annoyances  in  the  form  of 
headaches,  neuralgic  twinges,  occasional  nausea,  etc.,  were 
they  in  separate  beds. 

It  is  injurious  for  two  men  of  about  equal  age  to  lodge 
habitually  in  the  same  bed,  but  always  worse  for  females. 
Young  women,  at  all  times  after  the  establishment  of  perfect 
womanhood,  should  lodge  alone.  The  objections  to  sleeping 
together  are  not  removed,  even  though  the  apartment  is 
large  arid  airy. 

Husbands  and  wives  sleeping  in  the  same  bed  do  not  con- 
taminate the  air,  as  two  men  or  two  women  do.  There  is  a 
correcting  influence  from  opposite  sexes  thus  circumstanced, 
difficult  to  explain,  but,  nevertheless,  true.  In  many  parts  of 
Italy  they  practise  the  discreet  policy  of  •  never  permitting 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

two  persons  to  occupy  one  bed,  by  making  them  too  narrow 
for  two.  It  impresses  the  traveller  with  curious  surprise 
to  see  hotel  beds  in  that  sunny  land  so  very  insignificant 
in  width. 

There  is  a  peculiar  electrical  condition  of  tho  sexes.  Two 
females  do  not  develop  the  same  nervous  state,  neither  is  it  pro- 
duced by  two  men,  that  is,  elicited  by  one  of  each  sex.  The 
extreme  subtlety  of  this  phenomenon  defies  scrutiny.  "We  really 
do  not  know  anything  about  it  beyond  the  fact,  which  is  familiar 
knowledge  with  those  who  have  no  insight  into  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  science. 

It  is  said  that  a  man  and  a  woman,  introduced  into  a  per- 
fectly dark  room,  totally  ignorant  of  the  presence  of  each  other, 
will  not  only  soon  ascertain  that  a  person  is  present,  and  that 
without  moving  an  inch,  but  decide  accurately  whether  the 
neighbor,  unseen  and  unheard,  is  a  man  or  a  woman  ! 

FEMALE  OPERATIVES. 

One  reason  why  female  operatives  in  large  manufacturing 
establishments,  as  cotton-mills,  book-binderies,  printing-offices, 
paper-box  shops,  tailoring  lofts,  etc.,  are  pale,  cadaverous,  or 
yellowish,  besides  being  of  inferior  strength,  although  but  a  few 
months  thus  circumstanced,  is  due  to  exhalations  from  their 
own  bodies,  inhaled  with  the  air  they  are  breathing. 

A  morbid  craving  for  clay,  charcoal,  slate-pencils,  chalk, 
broken  bits  of  crockery,  and  similar  substances,  is  almost 
irrepressible  among  females  when  working  together  in  con- 
siderable numbers.  This  is  usually  regarded  as  a  novel  cir- 
cumstance. 

Deprived  of  home  influences,  grouped  together  in  a  vitiated 
atmosphere,  morbid  propensities  are  generated. 


144  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Such  was  the  charcoal-eating  propensity  of  the  female 
weavers  in  one  of  the  great  mills  in  Massachusetts  a  few  years 
since,  orders  were  given  to  lock  the  bins  in  which  charcoal  was 
kept,  as  the  girls  were  actually  consuming  such  quantities  daily. 

TEMPERATURE  OF  THE  BODY. 

In  drawing-rooms,  halls,  concerts,  and,  indeed,  on  all  public 
occasions,  where  large  numbers  of  persons  are  compactly  wedged 
together,  ladies,  much  sooner  than  men,  complain  of  a  sense  of 
suffocation.  While  gentlemen  are  quite  at  their  ease,  the 
feminine  part  of  the  audience  are  plying  fans  with  extreme 
activity. 

In  churches,  men  sit  bundled  in  thick  heavy  clothing,  but- 
toned to  their  chins,  and  then  are  only  just  comfortable,  while 
ladies  throw  off*  their  outer  garments,  and  express  by  various 
movements  their  oppression  from  heat  or  foul  air. 

In  public  conveyances,  nothing  is  more  common  than  to 
have  a  car  full  of  men  thrown  out  of  temper  by  the  entrance  of 
a  frail,  shadowy  woman,  who  immediately  requests  a  window  to 
be  opened.  On  some  railroads,  cars  are  expressly  appropriated 
for  females,  in  which  they  may  have  a  temperature  as  much 
below  zero  as  their  necessities  require ;  but  they  invariably  in- 
dicate dissatisfaction  in  being  placed  by  themselves,  even  though 
they  might  respire  more  agreeably. 

Clothing  which  women  wear  is  more  delicate  in  texture, 
thinner  and  lighter  than  male  attire  in  the  same  climate.  Yet 
they  are  as  warm  and  comfortable  as  muscular  men  in  their 
Mclntoshes  and  buffalo  overcoats. 

This  shows  that  women  have  a  temperature  above  the  slug- 
gish vitality  of  their  legal  protectors.  Their  circulation  is  more 
rapid  up  to  about  forty-five,  ceteris  parilus,  than  the  circula- 


THE   WAYS  OF   WOMEN.  145 

* 

tion  of  men,  sustained  upon  the  same  diet,  and  having  a  home 
in  common. 

SLEEPING  WITH  ANIMALS. 

The  importance  of  having  women  sleep  well — that  is,  re- 
freshingly—need  not  be  argued.  A  vile  practice  is  gaining  in 
this  country,  that  should  be  frowned  down  by  all  well-wishers 
to  humanity.  Young  ladies,  and  particularly  many  in  the 
maturity  of  age,  are  excessively  fond  of  pet  dogs.  They  are 
their  most  intimate  companions,  and  they  bestow  as  much  at- 
tention upon  them  as  affectionate  mothers  mete  out  to  their 
children,  to  gratify  their  philoprogenitiveness.  It  must  be  met 
by  something,  and  black-and-tan  imps  take  the  place  which  poor, 
abandoned  orphans  should  have  in  their  arms  and  in  their 
affections. 

They  not  only  feed  them  on  delicacies  unsuitable  to  their 
natures,  but  they  take  them  out  to  ride  in  carriages,  when  it 
would  please  them  more  to  have  liberty  to  run  on  the  ground, 
like  all  quadrupeds.  It  is  disgusting  to  see  little  snapping  curs 
receiving  the  fondest  caresses  and  the  sweetest  .tones  of  endear- 
ment, lavished  on  them  by  accomplished  women  who  would 
not  allow  imploring  poverty  to  stand  between  their  ladyships 
and  a  darling  puppy. 

There  are  demoralizations  and  contaminating  influences 
connected  with  this  canine  mania,  which  a  loving  father  is 
bound  to  forbid.  If  his  commands  are  not  honored,  his  next 
resort  should  be  a  revolver,  which  would  most  effectually  rid 
the  premises  of  such  unnatural  and  such  disgusting  associates 
of  his  daughters  or  his  wife. 

Not  satisfied  with  feeding  their  dogs  with  dainties  unsuit- 
able to  their  organs  of  digestion,  their  carnivorous  maws  are  filled 
with  such  articles  as  they  like  best  themselves ;  they  pamper 


146  THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN. 

them  on  cushions,  walk  with  them  reposing  on  their  bosoms, 
and  sleep  with  them  ostensibly  at  their  feet.  The  rage  for 
pet  dogs  is  a  cultivated  taste.  They  commence  with  moderate 
attentions,  but  soon  become  fascinated,  and  next  bewitched. 
From  a  pillow  on  a  rug,  they  are  promoted  to  the  foot  of  the 
bed.  Having  served  a  sophomorical  period  there,  the  rise  to 
the  position  of  senior  and  intimate  companion  is  not  distant. 

"  Whoso  lies  down  with  dogs  will  rise  up  with  fleas,"  says 
the  proverb.  It  cannot  be  healthy  for  a  woman  to  inhale  air  a 
dog  has  breathed,  to  say  nothing  of  the  emanations  from  the 
pores  of  his  body  in  the  confined  apartments  in  which  such 
favorites  are  ordinarily  kept. 

There  is  a  tremendous  exposure  to  an  incurable  malady,  if, 
by  any  mishap,  madam  or  her  daughter  should  be  bitten  by  a 
rabid  pet.  They  become  mad,  and  no  dog  is  proof  against  a~ 
sudden  development  of  that  incurable  malady, — hydrophobia. 

Cats  are  preferable  to  dogs  for  little  children,  in  their  kitten- 
hood  days,  as  less  prone  to  bite  and  snap,  even  if  handled 
roughly.* 


*  June  8th,  1871,  the  following  circumstance  occurred  in  a  police  court 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  which  shows  how  strong  an  attachment  for  a  dog 
may  become: — 

Mrs.  Sophia  Clinton  lived  at  156  Clinton  street.  She  had  a  little  black  - 
and-tan  dog,  and  the  black -and -tan  dog's  name  was  Dexter.  A  week  ago  the 
dog  strayed  away  or  was  stolen,  and  she  advertised  in  the  papers,  and 
searched  the  metropolis  for  that  little  dog.  At  last  she  found  him  in  the 
possession  of  a  German  named  Lippman  Kessler,  living  at  130  Attorney 
street.  .  But  Mr.  Kessler  would  not  give  up  the  animal.  So  Mrs.  Clinton  had 
Mr.  Lippman  Kessler  arrested,  and  he  was  brought  before  Judge  Scott,  at 
Essex  Market.  Quite  a  scene  ensued  as  the  high  disputing  parties  made 
their  entrance  into  the  vestibule  of  Justice.  Mrs.  Clinton  is  a  tall,  slender 
lady,  of  fine  presence,  and  has  beautiful  blonde  hair.  Mr.  Kessler  is  a  gross- 
looking  Teuton  of  herculean  build.  The  lady  was  very  demonstrative  in  her 
affections,  and  kissed  and  hugged  the  "innocent  cause  of  the  war,"  calling 
him  "mother's  own  baby,"  and  other  endearing  terms.  Poor  little  "  Dexter 
was  lost,  wasn't  he  ?  Poor  little  pet !" 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  14.7 

CRIBS  FOE  INFANTS. 

When  a  child  has  been  weaned,  it  should  have  a  crib  by 
itself.  With  the  development  of  teeth,  it  is  a  sign  a  modified 
aliment  is  required,  and  their  food  should  have  more  solidity. 
No  rules  can  be  given,  nor  are  they  required,  for  feeding  young 
children.  No  arbitrary  system  of  dieting  can  be  borne.  Ya- 
riety  is  necessary,  that  elements  may  be  selected  by  fashioning 
vessels  essential  in  their  economy. 

If  a  child  of  a  tender  age  is  habitually  fed  on  diluted  milk, 
softened  biscuit,  rice,  tapioca,  and  similar  unsatisfactory  pap, 
because  an  ignorant  mother  has  a  theory  which  becomes  a  law 
in  her  own  house, — if  it  lives,  it  can  hardly  escape  having  a 
defective  mind  encased  in  a  feeble  body. 

OVER-DOING. 

Thousands  of  children  die  annually  that  would  have  lived, 
had  they  been  let  alone.  One  of  the  trials  of  infancy  is  teeth- 
ing. Large  numbers  are  chronicled  in  the  bills  of  mortality  as 


"Oh,  yais;  zay  Dechster !  Declister !  mooch  vot  you  bleese.  I  call  heem 
Preence.  He  coom  shoosd  de  zame,"  said  Mr.  Kessler. 

"What  mark  do  you  know  him  by?"  asked  the  judge. 

Mrs.  Clinton — "His  claws  were  cut  short,  so  he  would  walk  nice,  and 
his  ears  are  cut  longer  than  most  dogs';  and,  Judge,  here  is  the  man  that  cut 
his  ears; "  pointing  to  a  young  gentleman  standing  alongside. 

Mr.  Kessler — "Oh,  yais.  You  hear  owel  aboud  dem  tings  fon  de  bo- 
leeceman.  Coom  here,  Preence,  coom.  You  see,  Shudge,  he  coom  to  me 
yust  de  same;"  and  the  little  dog  trotted  over  to  his  last  owner. 

Judge — "Where  did  you  get  the  dog?" 

Kessler — "  I  got  heem  fon  a  shoemaker  man.  I  dond  can  remember  his 
name,  dere  is  so  mooch  excitements  about  dot." 

Mrs.  Clinton  called  the  dog  back  again,  and  it  clung  to  her,  as  if  it  had 
regained  its  mistress.  At  last  the  Judge  decided  in  her  favor,  and  she 
stalked  off  triumphantly. 


148  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

having  died  from  that  cause.  The  truth  is,  if  the  facts  could  be 
known,  children  are  doctored  to  death  far  oftener  than  they  die 
from  diseases  peculiar  to  their  age.  Indifferent  physicians 
guess  at  their  ailments,  and  prescribe  accordingly,  without  much 
reflection,  since  to  do  nothing,  when  called  in  for  advice,  would 
be  rather  unprofessional. 

Charging  the  stomachs  of  little  children,  who  cannot  give 
any  account  of  their  indisposition,  with  nauseous  drugs,  is  repre- 
hensible. More  vital  effort  is  wasted  to  throw  them  off,  than 
would  have  been  expended  in  resisting  the  invasion  of  inflam- 
mation of  the  gums  in  the  protrusion  of  primary  teeth. 

Let  infants  and  young  misses  have  separate  beds.  School 
girls  should  invariably  sleep  by  themselves.  "When  they  be- 
come young  ladies,  it  is  inexcusable  to  permit  two  of  them, 
however  attached  and  dear  to  each  other  as  friends,  to  occupy 
the  same  beds  habitually. 

Pulmonary  consumption  is  sadly  sweeping  away  women 
from  spheres  they  beautify  and  adorn.  The  mortality  is  far 
beyond  what  it  would  be  from  hereditary  sources,  because  those 
who  die  of  it  transgress  many  laws  of  health.  To  obviate  the 
formation  of  a  susceptibility  in  the  constitution  to  the  approach 
of  pulmonary  consumption,  begin  seasonably  by  simply  avoid- 
ing exposures  to  influences  which  may  be  derived  from  sleeping 
with  others  in  early  life. 

BEDS. 

There  is  another  subject  connected  with  this  topic,  too  long 
overlooked,  which  it  is  proper  to  introduce.  The  materials  of 
which  beds  should  be  made  is  an  important  study. 

It  is  certain  that  there  is  a  constant  exhalation  from  the 
surface  of  the  body.  If  the  emunctories  are  closed  by  inflam- 
mation, or  accumulations  of  foreign  matter,  a  thickening  of  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

epidermic  tissues,  indeed,  from  any  source,  as  exanthematous 
obstructions,  produces  internal  febrile  heat  and  universal  dis- 
turbance in  the  system. 

Febrile  heat  sometimes  ensues  on  mechanical  principles, — 
from  the  non-escapement  of  fluids  which  ought  necessarily  to 
pass  off  externally.  Insensible  perspiration  is  a  safety-valve  for 
the  body,  as  much  as  a  crater  of  a  volcano  is  the  natural  outlet 
of  pent-up  forces  that  would  destroy  the  whole  mountain  if  not 
allowed  to  escape. 

The  kidneys  by  no  means  secrete  all  the  fluid  taken  into  the 
stomach  in  a  very  warm  day. 

Fluids  taken  by  the  renal  apparatus  directly  to  the  bladder, 
hold  in  solution  elements  already  referred  to  as  being  com- 
mingled with  our  food,  but  hurtful  if  not  carried  off  in  the 
most  direct  manner. 

Those  who  perspire  freely,  when  exposed  to  a  slightly 
elevated  temperature,  have  thus  less  duty  imposed  on  the 
kidneys. 

OFFENSIVE  CUTANEOUS  EXHALATIONS. 

Persons  who  perspire  easily,  and  more  than  others  under  or- 
dinary circumstances,  rarely  have  either  dropsy  or  renal 
difficulties. 

There  is  a  singular  difference  in  the  character  of  cutaneous 
transpirations  in  different  persons,  detected  by  the  sense  of 
smell,  but  not  by  the  individual  from  whom  it  escapes.  It  is 
offensively  unpleasant  to  the  olfactories  from  most  colored  per- 
sons, particularly  when  they  have  been  exercising  or  in  warm 
weather. 

That  disagreeable  odor  is  not  without  its  use  in  the  general 
economy  of  things.  Africa  abounds  with  annoying  insects,  the 


150  THE  WAYS  .  OF  WOMEN. 

torment  of  humanity,  as  of  all  animals.  So  particularly  offen- 
sive is  the  perspiration  from  the  bodies  of  the  natives,  it  pro- 
tects them,  like  an  invisible  cloud,  against  attacks  of  swarms 
of  pestiferous  flies,  gnats,  and  winged  plagues  of  indescribable 
forms,  which  no  life  could  resist,  were  it  not  for  that  curious 
provision  for  defense. 

Apiarians  are  familiar  with  what  every  body  know,  that 
bees  cannot  tolerate  the  presence  of  some  persons,  while  others 
may  handle  their  hives,  extract  sheets  of  comb,  or  swarm  new 
colonies  with  perfect  impunity. 

This  is  accounted  for  by  the  ignorant,  on  the  presumption 
that  honey-bees  recognize  an  enemy  in  the  one  or  a  friend  in 
the  other.  No  doubt  those  who  annoy  them  by  their  presence 
to  exasperation,  give  off  an  offensive  vapor  which  the  acute  or- 
ganization of  the  bees  detects  as  a  nuisance.  Those  who  fear- 
lessly explore  the  interior  of  a  hive,  and  even  suffer  bees  to 
light  upon  them  without  being  stung,  exhale  no  vapor  that 
meets  their  disapprobation. 

This  is,  probably,  the  whole  secret  and  explanation  of  the 
supposed  friendship  or  hostility  of  honey-bees.  The  perspira- 
tion of  intemperate  persons,  as  well  as  those  excessively  given 
to  the  consumption  of  tobacco,  is  laden,  unknown  to  them- 
selves, with  exceedingly  offensive  matter,  which  is  quite  as 
disgusting  to  those  brought  within  the  sphere  of  its  emanation, 
as  to  the  quick  discrimination  of  honey-bees  and  wasps. 

PROGRESSIVE  DECOMPOSITION  IN  LIFE. 

There  is  a  constant,  uninterrupted  process  of  decomposition 
going  on  in  every  organ  and  tissue  of  the  body  of  every  living 
being.  "When  a  new  particle  is  placed  in  position,  an  old  one 
is  removed. 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  151 

There,  are  but  three  ways  of  throwing  off  effete,  dead 
matter,  viz.,  through  the  pores  of  the  skin,  the  intestinal 
tube,  and  the  bladder.  To  do  this,  the  blood  holds  immense 
amounts  of  debris  in  solution.  "When  long  retained,  physicians 
speak  of  a  bad  condition  of  the  blood.  Quacks,  without 
knowing  anything  about  it,  harp  incessantly  on  its  impurity, 
and  get  rich  on  the  sale  of  nostrums  for  its  purification. 

Such  medications  are  absurdities.  It  is  ridiculous  non- 
sense to  prate,  as  these  irresponsible  speculators  in  health 
do,  about  pretending  to  physic  the  blood.  It  is  as  impossible 
to  produce  any  such  operation  as  it  would  be  to  bombard  the 
sun.  Charged,  as  that  vital  fluid  must  be  always,  with  worn- 
out  materials,  which  have  served  a  purpose  till  all  of  value  in 
them  had  been  exhausted, — it  is  a  natural  process  to  be  floated 
away,  and  nature  will  take  care  of  herself  without  the  aid  of 
pseudo-medical  specialists. 

Tonics,  properly  directed,  may  assist  a  debilitated  invalid 
by  giving  vigor  to  some  flagging  organ,  in  this  never-ceasing 
process  of  receiving,  appropriating,  and  then  setting  at  liberty 
that  which  ceases  to  be  any  longer  of  utility. 

Avoid  one  probable  cause  of  indisposition,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  breathing  good  air  rather  than  foul,  if  just  as  readily 
obtained. 

Feather  beds  yield,  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  close  room,  a 
peculiar'  mephitic  odor,  traceable  to  a  slow  decomposition  of 
the  tubes  of  the  feathers.  Years  are  required,  if  no  artificial 
efforts  are  made  by  severe  kiln-drying  or  baking,  before 
feathers  lose  that  offensive  character.  Even  after  various 
expedients  for  airing  them  by  drying,  they  re-imbibe  mois- 
ture, and  the  old  odor  is  again  given  off. 

Thus,  the  best  directed  efforts  in  purifying  feathers  are 
only  temporary,  and,  therefore,  they  should  be  abandoned.  It 


152  THE   WAYS  OP  WOMEN. 

is  just  as  injurious  to  be  inhaling  every  night  the  impure  air 
of  a  room  in  which  a  feather-bed  putrefaction  is  progressing, 
as  to  have  the  decaying  carcase  of  a  dead  animal  under  the 
bed,  from  which  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  was  escaping. 

In  northern  climates,  where  the  progress  of  feather  decom- 
position is  slowly  conducted,  feather  beds  are  common,  and 
less  to  be  dreaded  than  where  the  summers  are  long  and  hot. 
But  they  ought  to  be  given  up  wholly  and  entirely,  as  they 
probably  will  be,  with  a  more  general  diffusion  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  hygiene,  the  importance  of  which  is  happily 
beginning  to  be  understood. 

Even  when  the  weather  is  cold,  the  heat  of  the  body 
actually  penetrates  to  the  feathers,  acting  chemically  in  setting 
free  an  unpleasant  odor,  if  the  room  is  not  well  aired.  Under 
any  circumstances,  those  of  delicate  organizations,  subjected 
to  severe  exposures  which  affect  the  lungs,  should  avoid 
'feather  beds.  So  should  asthmatic  people.  Emanations  from 
a  feather  pillow,  even  when  the  bed  is  of  hair,  or  some  other 
common  material,  will  sometimes  bring  on  a  stricture  of  the 
bronchial  tubes,  so  severe  that  the  sufferer  can  scarcely  draw 
in  sufficient  breath  for  sustaining  life.  Asthmatics  should 
shun  feathers  in  beds,  bolsters,  or  pillows. 

Wool  beds  are  admirable.  They  are  warm,  soft,  and  elastic. 
They  have  been  objected  to  on  account  of  being  an  animal 
product,  as  well  as  feathers.  But,  admitting  that  decomposi- 
tion must,  of  course,  be  the  destiny  of  all  animal  matter,  in 
whatever  form  it  may  be  utilized,  there  is  really  no  such 
cogent  reason  for  rejecting  wool  as  feathers.  We  like  them, 
and  recommend  them  for  invalids  of  a  spare  habit. 

Next,  hair-mattresses,  in  universal  use,  wrhile  fresh  and 
new,  are  delightful  beds.  But  they  are  an  animal  product  also, 
very  likely  to  be  preyed  upon  by  minute  insects  which  cut 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  15 3 

the  hairs  into  bits  much  sooner  than  suspected.  An  old  hair- 
mattress  is  a  living  sack  of  abominations,  in  which  life,  death, 
and  successive  generations  of  mites,  too  minute  to  be  seen 
without  a  magnifier,  undoubtedly  give  rise  to  eruptions,  cuta- 
neous irritations,  and  perhaps  unpleasant  conditions  of  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  lungs,  from  breathing  air  laden  with 
matter  escaping  through  the  tick. 

Many  a  traveller  has  imbibed  the  seeds  of  death  by  sleep- 
ing on  such  kinds  of  beds  in  hotels.  They  would  be  gainers  by 
sleeping  on  the  floor,  rather  than  recline  on  an  old  hair-mattress 
which  may  have  been  soaked  with  the  offensive  sweat  products 
of  a  sick  stranger  the  night  before,  or  be  in  a  state  of  slow 
chemical  putridity,  from  which  gases  are  given  off  that  may 
generate  disease  which  no  medications  could  arrest. 

Frequent  opening  of  the  sacks,  repicking  and  drying  in 
open,  brilliant  sunlight,  and  thoroughly  drying  beds  of  all 
kinds  in  hotels  and  boarding-houses,  should  be  enforced  under 
police  inspection,  as  a  measure  for  securing  public  health 
among  other  sanitary  precautions  so  well  received  by  the 
public. 

Cotton-wool  beds  have  been  introduced,  but  not  very  suc- 
cessfully. They  mat  and  become  extremely  hard,  soon  losing 
all  the  elasticity  they  may  have  had  at  first.  Besides,  they 
imbibe  moisture  which  is  difficult  to  expel  in  such  a  thick  mass. 

Within  a  few  years,  sponge  beds  have  been  introduced, 
which  have  their  friends,  especially  among  those  interested  in 
the  sale  of  them.  There  has  haidly  been  time  to  ascertain 
their  true  merits.  If  their  elasticity,  when  chopped  or  torn 
into  fragments,  depends  on  being  made  supple  with  glycerine, 
by  and  by  objections  will  be  raised  against  them.  However, 
they  are  not  to  be  criticised  unfavorably  till  more  is  known  of 
the  advantages  they  present. 


154  THE   WAYS   OF   WOMEN. 

One  of  the  latest  and  best  yet  presented  for  acceptance,  is 
the  metallic.  In  appearance  it  is  a  wire  tick,  woven,  or  made 
of  rings  linked  together,  fastened  by  its  edges  to  the  inner 
margins  of  the  bedstead. 

They  are  always  clean  and  free  from  collections  which 
attach  to  other  beds.  Being  galvanized,  they  neither  rust  nor 
become  dark-colored.  Water  beds,  which  were  thought  par- 
ticularly valuable  for  hospitals,  have  not  been  in  general  use. 
The  metallic  bed  addresses  itself  to  the  cpmmonsense  of  a 
very  limited  intelligence  as  valuable.  A  mattress  is  rarely 
required  on  them.  A  few  thicknesses  of  soft  woolen  blankets 
are  quite  sufficient ;  they  are  soft  and  yielding  to  the  form  of 
the  sleeper.  In  a  word,  they  are  admirable  and  appear  destined 
to  be  extensively  adopted  wherever  large  numbers  of  beds  are 
required  in  any  one  place — as  on  shipboard,  hospitals,  barracks, 
and  hotels.  Families  ought  to  give  them  a  decided  preference. 

There  is  immense  economy  in  them.  Beside  all  the  prop- 
erties found  in  other  beds,  of  giving  ease  and  comfort,  they 
present  none  of  the  objections  cited  in  reference  to  feathers, 
hair,  wool,  cotton,  rattan,  husks,  or  straw.  No  insects  will  ever 
burrow  upon  them ; — and  when  injured  or  broken,  or  they 
become  valueless  for  tke  purposes  for  which  they  were  made, 
they  may  then  be  sold  for  old  iron. 

In  fitting  up  a  private  dwelling,  the  economy  of  the  iron 
bed  is  apparent.  They  are  the  least  objectionable;  and  the 
very  best  for  young  persons,  especially  children,  because  they 
would  be  perfectly  free  from  moisture  and  vermin.  They  can 
be  set  into  any  kind  of  bedstead,  wood  or  iron,  but  iron  should 
take  tjie  place  of  wooden  bedsteads.  It  is  the  bed  for  women — 
incomparatively  superior  to  any  other  kind  in  use. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 
THE  FOOD  OF  WOMEN. 

Dietetics  of  the  World— Everything  Eaten— Difference  of  Taste— Habit- 
Sugar  a  Necessity — Economy  of  the  Liver — Pork — By  whom  Avoided — 
Starch— Experiment  with  Honey  Bees— Law  of  Life  Illustrated — Fruits 
to  be  freely  given  to  Children — Open- Air  Exercise  for  Girls — A  Bene- 
volent Citizen  of  Boston— Fish  Excellent  Food — And  Why  ? 

EVEKY  creeping  thing,  even  disgusting  insects,  vermin,  rep- 
tiles, lizards,  and  crawling  ophidians,  are  used  for  human  food. 
Of  course,  they  are  not  appropriated  for  that  purpose  in  civil- 
ized countries ;  but,  with  savages  and  barbarians,  whatever  will 
sustain  life  is  greedily  seized  upon  without  reference  to  external 
appearances,  habits,  character,  or  flavor.  Necessity  compels 
many  tribes  to  sustain  themselves  on  food  that  would  not  have 
been  selected  from  choice  or  a  depraved  taste,  if  anything  else 
could  be  procured. 

Under  such  circumstances,  it  has  not  been  discovered  that 
those  who  feed  thus  promiscously  and  offensively,  measured 
by  the  standard  of  civilization,  are  any  more  prone  to  sickness, 
or  are  shorter-lived,  than  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  dine 
sumptuously  on  roast  beef  and  pudding. 

"  Slay  and  eat,"  was  a  command  to  Peter,  when  the  sheet 
was  let  down  before  his  eyes,  filled  with  all  manner  of  strange 
forms.  It  is  a  maxim  in  law  that  circumstances  alter  cases.  So 
it  is  in  respect  to  diet.  Our  impressions  respecting  the  whole- 
someness  or  unwholesomeness  of  particular  kinds  of  food,  are 
formed  from  the  remarks,  or  likes  and  dislikes  of  those  with 
whom,  and  among  whom3  our  early  associations  were  established. 


156  THE  WAYS  OF   WOMEN. 

"We  are  influenced,  without  being  able  to  explain  why,  by  what 
others  say  and  are  practising  within  the  circle  in  which  we  are 
moving.  Our  social  education,  which  is  entirely  independent 
of  letters,  books,  or  schools,  is  commenced  and  completed  very 
early  in  the  family.  What  we  learn  there  abides  with  us  ever 
after.  We  cannot  emancipate  ourselves  from  the  errors  thus 
imbibed,  nor  free  ourselves  from  the  cordon  of  responsibilities 
with  which  we  feel  ourselves  surrounded,  without  violating 
moral  laws  on  which  both  safety  and  happiness  seem  to 
depend. 

Nearly  all  we  know  upon  the  subject  of  food  comes  from 
the  experience  of  others,  and  rarely  from  our  own.  Had  we 
been  accustomed  to  swallows'-nest  soups,  a  rich  dish  in  China,  we 
certainly  should  have  had  no  prejudices  to  contend  with  in  later 
years,  were  it  served  to  us ;  but,  never  having  tasted  it,  the  very 
thought  of  such  a  singular  preparation  for  the  stomach  is 
nauseating.  Precisely  so,  also,  in  regard  to  that  still  more  dis- 
gusting delicacy  of  almond-eyed  races,  ~beclie  de  la  mer,  a  large, 
slimy,  soft,  hideous-looking  sea-slug,  held  in  the  highest  es- 
timation in  aristocratic  society  throughout  the  whole  of 
China. 

Sailors  on  a  wreck  have  fed  upon  the  decaying  corpse  of  a 
starved  companion,  without  any  of  those  painful  results  which 
theoretically  follow  from  eating  putrescent  food.  Hungry 
Bedouins  feast  upon  dried  locusts ;  roaming  savages  of  Africa 
satisfy  a  voracious  appetite  with  a  roasted  boa-constrictor,  or  a 
baked  monkey.  A  Mexican  slaughters  a  cow  for  the  sake  of  a 
dainty  morsel,  the  half -grown  calf,  throwing  away  the  beef  of 
the  mother,  as  too  coarse  and  too  common  for  a  refined  and  cul- 
tivated gourmand.  Stewed  puppies  were  a  choice  preparation 
when  Captain  Cook  discovered  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Fried 
eels,  boiled  snails,  five-fingered  Jacks,  oysters,  prawns,  clams, 


THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN.  157 

shrimps,  etc.,  which  belong  to  our  catalogue  of  modern  eatables, 
are  quite  as  objectionable,  contemplated  as  awful-looking  crea- 
tures, as  many  things  we  exclude  from  gustatory  favor,  on  ac- 
count of  their  imagined  bad  qualities. 


PUTRIDITY. 

If  chemical  decomposition  is  not  so  far  advanced  as  to  de- 
stroy cohesion,  no  unfavorable  effects  result  from  eating  any- 
thing that  has  once  been  alive.  Those  animals  which  have 
sacks  of  poison  in  them  are  excluded,  as  well  as  those  that 
secrete  an  abominable  fluid  from  particular  glands,  which,  in 
both  cases,  are  defences  against  their  enemies. 

Pampered  city  gourmands  keep  venison  till  it  becomes 
partially  decayed,  before  it  attains  that  delicious  flavor  which 
meets  the  approval  of  an  aldermanic  stomach. 

To  those  unaccustomed  to  that  delicacy — a  conversational 
theme  of  officials,  dieted  at  the  expense  of  taxpayers — such  a 
meal  would  seem  freighted  with  death  in  the  pot,  especially 
when  a  smoking  quarter  comes  to  the  table,  a  perfect  nuisance 
to  uneducated  olfactories. 

Overcome  the  pangs  of  hunger  with  whatever  is  of  an  animal 
origin,  there  are  properties  in  it  which  a  stomach  fashions  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  the  system.  No  carrion  is  too  corrupt  for 
some  carnivorous  beasts  and  birds.  Contact  with  the  gastric 
juice  deprives  it  quickly  of  the  taint,  while  the  decaying  softness 
of  flesh  is  thus  prepared  for  rapid  digestion. 

Man  has  always  been,  and  always  will  continue,  to  sustain 
himself  on  a  mixed  aliment. 

SALT. 
The  late  Mr.  Sylvester  Graham  was  a  prominent  vegetarian 


158  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

fanatic.  He  was  even  extremely  prejudiced  against  salt.  He 
could  not  abide  it,  and  exerted  his  vocal  skill  in  trying  to  con- 
vince silly  old  women,  of  both  sexes,  that  eating  salt  was  about 
equal  to  taking  in  death  by  grains. 

How  supremely  ridiculous  to  be  at  war  with  the  law  of 
necessity !  There  is  not  a  treatise  extant  on  health,  held  in 
esteem  by  competent  scientific  authorities,  that  does  not  admit, 
unequivocally,  that  common  salt  is  found  in  all  our  tissues  and 
fluids. 

"We  could  not  be  what  we  are,  or  what  we  may  be,  without 
it.  Salt  is  found  in  almost  every  article  made  use  of  as  food, 
whether  the  newly-fledged  school  of  ignorant  physiological 
reformers  approve  of  it  or  not.  By  the  introduction  of  salt 
into  the  system,  the  blood  globules  are  supposed  to  be  sustained 
in  their  form,  and  prepared  for  the  purposes  of  life.  Even 
the  tears  we  shed  contain  salt.  We  must  be  supplied 
with  it.  Nature,  therefore,  in  anticipation  of  the  necessities 
of  all  warm-blooded  animals,  w^as  careful  to  introduce  it 
into  vegetables,  and  from  them  the  flesh  and  fluids  are  kept 
supplied. 

There  are  conditions  in  which  the  supply  from  that  source 
is  not  equal  to  the  demands  of  the  body.  Where  the  quantity 
secured  by  plants  and  grasses  in  some  latitudes  is  too  small,  the 
deficit  is  met  for  man  by  commerce.  Buffaloes,  deer,  etc.,  in 
the  primitive  state  of  this  country,  came  in  droves  from  great 
distances  in  the  far  West  towards  the  Atlantic  where  salt 
springs  abounded,  to  obtain  what  instinct  compelled  them  to 
seek ;  or  suffer  and  die,  if  not  found. 

Grass-feeding  animals  search  for  it  in  their  wild  state  con- 
tinually. Whenever  they  discover  a  saline  quality  in  water, 
that  spot  is  not  only  remembered,  but  intelligence  of  its  locality 
is  extensively  propagated  and  transmitted  from  one  generation 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  159 

to  another.  How  that  was  accomplished  without  articulative 
language'  will  ever  remain  as  much  of  a  paradox  as  the  propa- 
gation of  the  intuition  of  birds  to  go  South  for  winter  quarters 
which  is  understood  by  the  youngest  of  the  flock  for  the 
first  time  leaving  the  neighborhood  where  they  were  reared, 
for  a  flight  of  one  or  two  thousand  miles  to  an  unknown 
region. 

The  health  of  wild  or  domesticated  animals  imperiously 
demands  salt.  Some  are  so  organized  that  what  they  obtain 
in  their  food  is  sufficient  for  them.  The  farmer  feeds  it 
out  at  stated  periods  to  his  stock.  Timid  horses  may  be 
caught  with  a  handful,  when  nothing  else  would  tempt 
them  to  yield  up  their  liberty  to  become  the  slaves  of  their 
captors. 

Carnivorous  animals,  flesh-eaters  exclusively,  obtain  in  their 
prey  just  enough  of  the  saline  element  to  answer  the  physical 
needs  of  their  organization. 

ANOMALIES. 

No  two  persons  are  constituted  so  nearly  alike  as  to  perfectly 
agree  in  their  taste  or  appetency  for  food.  One  may  object  to 
pastry,  while  another  loves  it  dearly.  A  small  amount  of  meat 
suffices  for  some,  others  have  no  relish  for  it  at  all.  Vegetables 
are  coveted  exclusively  by  some  individuals.  In  them  are 
provided  sugar,  starch,  gelatine,  etc.,  required  in  the  re- 
paration of  their  tissues.  Thus,  bread,  in  universal  request, 
contains  some,  if  not  all,  of  those  elements,  and,  therefore, 
each  sustains  himself  on  an  article  in  which  some,  if  not 
all,  the  life-sustaining  properties  exist,  necessary  for  his  pre- 
servation. 

Bread,  by  baking,  is  prepared  for  being  converted  into  glu- 


160  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

cose,  soon  after  reaching  the  stomach.     It  is  changed  into  a 
sweetish  paste  by  a  vital  chemical  action. 

Sugar  is  indispensable.  If  the  supply  is  too  small  from 
without,  the  liver,  as  set  forth  in  another  chapter,  immediately 
manufactures  enough  to  supply  the  deficit  necessary  in  the 
economy  of  the  individual. 


AFFECTING  THE  TEETH. 

A  common  opinion  prevails  that  sugar  is  injurious  to  the 
teeth.  A  grosser  mistake  was  never  propagated.  Carious 
teeth,  denuded  of  enamel,  ache  when  sweets  are  in  contact  with, 
the  decaying  surface;  but  the  cause  of  the  caries  is  due  to 
other  agencies,  and  not  to  sugar. 

Children  crave  it,  and  the  universal  desire  for  sweets  gives 
employment  to  immense  numbers  of  laborers  in  tropical  coun- 
tries to  meet  the  demands  of  those  parts  of  the  globe  where  it 
cannot  be  made. 

Wherever  civilization  has  raised  its  standard,  sugar  becomes 
a  staple  commodity.  How  preposterous,  then,  to  attempt  turn- 
ing back  the  current  of  trade,  or  interfering  with  the  great 
movements  of  commercial  activity,  because,  forsooth,  some  ad- 
dle-headed theorist  wishes  to  immortalize  himself  by  opposing 
constitutional  tendencies  of  improved  and  improving  humanity. 


SUGAR  HAS  IGNORANT  ENEMIES. 

Opposing  the  use  of  sugar  and  salt  is  simply  to  expose 
one's  imbecility,  want  of  judgment,  and  limited  views  of  na- 
ture's unalterable  laws. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  161 

OMNIVOROUS. 

Teeth,  stomach,  and  their  auxiliary  appendages  are  con- 
structed upon  principles  of  relationship  to  secure  perfect  nutri- 
tion. Because  men  can  subsist  on  a  mixed  diet,  is  found  their 
ability  for  traversing  the  globe  from  the  tropics  to  the  frozen 
regions  of  the  poles. 

We  go  with  impunity  from  arctic  ice-fields  to  the  burning 
sands  of  an  African  desert,  through  all  extremes  of  climate, 
without  apprehension  of  not  being  able  to  sustain  ourselves  on 
any  kind  of  food  which  may  be  offered.  No  animal  could  be 
transported  through  such  diversified  climates,  and  feed  on 
diversified  products  as  they  might  present,  without  perishing. 
They  must  have  the  element  especially  fitted  to  their  organiza- 
tion. If  that  is  not  to  be  had,  they  perish. 

Swine,  and  some  birds,  to  a  limited  extent,  are  omnivorous ; 
still  they  cannot  thrive  when  removed  from  their  natural  habi- 
tat, unless  provided  with  food  analogous  to  that  in  which  they 
attain  their  highest  development. 

Feathered  tribes  feed  largely  on  insects,  larvae,  seeds,  etc., 
which  is  a  mixture  of  animal  and  vegetable  food.  Were  it 
otherwise,  in  their  periodical  migrations  sad  consequences 
would  follow.  An  omnivorous  appetite  can  be  accommodated 
in  'different  localities,  where  animal  and  vegetable  products 
abound,  without  impairing  muscular  force,  or  unfitting  them 
for  returning  to  such  food  as  they  subsist  upon  a  part  of  the 
season  JSTorth  or  South. 

PORK. 

Swine  feed  indifferently  on  flesh,  vegetables,  or  garbage, 
without  reference  to  its  composition,  even  in  a  state  of  putre- 
factive fermentation.  A  knowledge  of  their  habits  may  have 


162  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

led  to  a  prohibition  of  pork  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation. 
They  have  always  been  held  as  unclean,  and,  therefore,  unsuit- 
able for  human  food,  from  a  remote  antiquity,  by  both  Jews 
and  Mahometans. 

Shaker  communities  in  this  country  have  uniformly  ab- 
stained from  pork.  Trichinus  spiralis,  which  affects  men,  wo- 
men, and  children,  is  traced  directly  to  swine.  Their  minute 
eggs  taken  into  the  human  stomach,  or,  indeed,  any  stomach, 
as  far  as  we  know  to  the  contrary,  resist  the  gastric  juice ; 
although  it  dissolves  metals,  their  vitality  resists  its  potency. 
TrichLise  reach  the  muscles,  and  the  tapeworm  keeps  possession 
of  the  alimentary  canal. 

Scrofula,  which  is  an  enlargement  and  tumefaction  of 
the  glands,  is  also  believed  to  be  aggravated,  if  not  produced  by 
pork.  The  term  scrofula  is  derivtaed  from  a  word  indicating 
filthiness. 

Shakers  are  remarkable  for  their  fair  skins,  clear  complex- 
ion, and  exemption  from  scrofulous  affections.  They  very 
rarely  have  either  cutaneous  blotches,  discolorations,  moles,  or 
eruptions,  which  confirms  them  in  the  opinion,  that  they  are 
right  in  excluding  pork  from  their  tables,  and  living  swine 
from  their  farms. 

When  swine  are  fed,  as  they  usually  are  in  the  vicinity  of 
eities,  and  populous  towns,  on  offal  gathered  in  carts,  the  back- 
yard accumulations  from  kitchens,  sour,  decomposing,  or  offen- 
sive, no  pains  ever  being  taken  to  preserve  such  collections  from 
passing  into  a  stage  wholly  unfit  for  food,  their  flesh  becomes 
diseased,  in  consequence  of  being  compelled  to  subsist  on  a 
vile  hodge-podge — a  perfect  salmagundi  of  concentrated  vileness. 

Raised,  as  they  are  in  back  settlements  of  the  West,  on 
mast,  which  they  gather  in  their  free  rambles  in  the  woods,  or 
when  stall-fed  on  sound  corn,  the  pork  is  less  objectionable,  and 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

not  likely  to  be  diseased.  But  it  is  safer  never  to  use  it,  since 
it  is  difficult  to  decide  in  the  market  from  whence  it  came, 
upon  the  quality. 

Ladies  who  are  anxious  to  preserve  their  fair  faces  free 
from  roughness,  redness,  eruptive  pimples,  and  glandular 
enlargements  about  the  neck,  must  shun  pork.  They  can- 
not breakfast  on  sausages  without  running  a  greater  risk  than 
with  a  pork-steak ;  because  they  are  usually  made  of  scrapings 
of  bones,  or  the  poorest  quality  of  pork,  so  compounded  with 
pepper,  lard,  and  pulverized  herbs,  as  to  conceal  the  objection- 
able appearance  or  taint  they  would  give  out,  were  it  not  for 
salt,  and  the  deceptive  skill  of  the  manufacturer. 

Smoked  hams  pass  through  processes  which  are  thought  to 
destroy  parasites  burrowing  in  the  best  of  them.  By  severe 
boiling  or  baking,  minute  eggs  deposited  in  them  are  effectu- 
ally destroyed,  so  that  in  that  form,  if  pork  is  at  all  allowable, 
it  is  in  a  thoroughly  cured  and  thoroughly  cooked  ham.  Even 
when  a  long  while  smoked,  if  taken  in  sandwiches,  raw — some- 
times practised — there  is  undoubted  danger  of  being  infected 
with  trichinae  and  tape-worm  eggs. 

DISCOLORATION  OF  THE  SKIN. 

Moth-spots,  those  irregular  yellow  patches  that  appear  on 
the  chin,  side  of  the  nose,  on  the  forehead,  and  near  the  ears  of 
middle-aged  women ;  irritable  eruptions  on  the  limbs,  known 
as  salt  rheum ;  excess  of  dandruff  on  the  head ;  moles,  and 
spongy  outgrowths, — are  each  and  all  of  them  aggravated  by 
pork. 

Cooking  exceedingly  modifies  food  for  being  more  easily 
and  rapidly  assimilated.  Hard  and  unpalatable  articles,  in 
a  raw  state,  are  quite  savory  when  subjected  to  culinary 


164:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

operations.  But  of  all  laboratories,  the  stomach  is  the  most 
perfect.  Yital  chemistry  is  superior  to  art,  and  whatever 
enters  the  stomach  is  subjected  both  to  mechanical  and 
chemical  influences,  before  the  absorbents  draw  upon  the 
mass  for  nutriment. 

FURTHER  OBSERVATIONS  ON  SUGAR. 

Sugar  is  an  ingredient  of  most  plants,  roots,  fruits,  and 
grains  on  which  animals  subsist.  So  acute  is  the  sense  of 
smell  in  quadrupeds,  especially  the  wild  ones — and  always 
active  in  the  domesticated,  as  horses,  oxen,  deer,  sheep,  and 
goats — they  select,  with  extreme  care  and  accuracy,  only  such 
vegetables  as  yield  it. 

It  is  for  our  interest,  as  it  is  for  the  promotion  of  indi- 
vidual and  public  health,  to  cultivate  plants  and  roots  for 
our  domesticated  animals  that  contain  the  largest  per  cent 
of  saccharine  matter.  Hence,  beets,  carrots,  and  turnips  are 
excellent  for  them. 

We  have  nothing  to  do  with  commercial  interests  in  these 
deliberations.  Reference  is  simply  made  to  those  products 
that  have  an  influence  on  individual  health. 

Next  to  sugar,  in  the  order  of  dietetic  indispensables,  are 
the  cereals. 

Starch  passes  through  several  interesting  stages  before  it 
yields  those  elements  on  which  its  nutritive  properties  depend. 
Flour  is  first  made  into  dough,  and  by  baking  is  changed 
so  materially,  as  to  be  wholly  unlike  its  appearance  either  in 
flour  or  dough.  Both  in  sapidity  and  in  quality  for  the  sup- 
port of  life,  the  processes  through  which  it  passes  from  the  mill  to 
leaving  the  oven,  are  remarkably  curious;  yet  so  common 
and  familiar,  a  thought  is  never  bestowed  upon  the  subject 
except  by  teachers  or  writers  on  the  phenomena  of  digestion. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  165 

If  compelled  to  subsist  upon  any  one  article  exclusively, 
even  if  it  contains  sugar,  it  ceases  to  be  serviceable  to  man, 
but  most  of  the  animals  live  in  excellent  health  through  their 
whole  allotted  lifetime,  as  regulated  by  the  law  of  limitation, 
on  one  kind  of  food. 

Our  food  must  be  frequently  changed,  or  compounded 
with  different  ingredients.  Dogs,  cats,  and,  indeed,  all  the 
carnivorous  animals,  are  quite  independent  of  sugar  from 
plants  or  fruits,  all  that  they  require  being  manufactured 
within  their  own  bodies.  If  they  are  fed  on  sugar  a  little 
time  the  relish  for  it  soon  subsides,  and  they  lose  flesh, 
become  feeble,  and  die. 

The  following  table  shows  the  amount  of  sugar  in  fruits  and 
grains,  with  which  we  are  most  familiar.  Nature  has  made 
ample  provision  for  the  necessities  of  those  whose  organization 
requires  it. 

In  one  hundred  parts,  sugar  is  in  the  following  proportion  : 

Figs 62.50  Wheat  Flour 5.20  to  48 

Cherries 18.12  Rye  Meal 3.28 

Peaches 16.45  Indian  Meal 1.45 

Pears 11.52  Peas 2.00 

Tamarinds 12.50  Cow's  Milk 4.77 

Beets 9.00  Human  Milk 5.50 

Barley 5.21 

Fruits  abound  more  in  sugar  than  grain,  but  the  latter  fur- 
nishes starch.  We  cannot  subsist  on  either  alone,  so  well  or  so 
long  as  when  compounded  with  other  materials. 

There  is  an  inborn  love  for  sweets  and  oily  food  which  can- 
not be  overcome  by  any  system  of  discipline,  so  that  the  indi- 
vidual will  not  indulge  in  them  when  opportunity  presents. 

Bees  fed  on  pure  sugar  refuse,  for  a  few  days,  to  forage 
among  flowers.  That,  however,  is  only  temporary,  as  we  have 


166  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

often  repeated  the  experiment,  and  found  that,  after  the  syrup 
had  been  mixed  in  the  honey-pouch  of  the  bees,  with  the  secre- 
tions of  that  organ,  it  lost  its  fluidity  by  evaporation,  and  left 
dry  sugar  in  the  cell.  The  bees  immediately  went  earnestly  to 
work,  with  united  force,  on  discovering  the  appearance  of  things, 
and  carried  it  all  out  of  the  hive,  grain  by  grain,  and  then 
resumed  their  accustomed  avocation  in  the  fields. 

When  pigs  are  fed  exclusively  on  boiled  potatoes,  though 
rich  in  starch,  they  fatten  slowly,  because  no  oily  material  is 
present.  By  simply  mixing  milk  with  potatoes  or  corn-meal, 
seeds  or  nuts,  the  fattening  process  is  vastly  more  rapid. 

COOKING  FOOD  FOE  ANIMALS. 

Nothing  is  gained  for  domesticated  animals  by  cooking  their 
food.  Cows,  fed  on  warm  swill,  still-house  waste,  macerated 
hay;  or  swine,  urged  on  to  excessive  fatness  by  confinement  and 
cooked  food,  have  ulcerations-of  the  liver,  and  a  bad  state  of  the 
tissues.  Meazly  pork  is  a  disease  of  the  cellular  texture,  and, 
therefore,  wholly  unsuitable  for  the  table,  however  disguised  by 
pepper  in  sausage-meat,  or  bacon.  "When  Majendie  rationed  dogs 
wholly  on  starch  or  sugar,  they  died  unexpectedly  soon.  Butter 
or  lard,  fed  to  them  exclusively,  was  equally  fatal. 

A  duck  fed  entirely  on  butter,  at  the  rate  of  1,350  to  1,500 
grains  daily,  died  in  three  weeks.  On  examination,  the  butter 
was  oozing  from  all  parts  of  the  bird's  body.  Even  the 
feathers  were  saturated  with  it,  and  the  odor  was  excessively 
nauseous  and  offensive. 

WARNINGS  AGAINST  VEGETARIAN  REFORMS. 

The  lessons  taught  in  these  experiments  are  detached  evi- 
dences of  a  fundamental  law  of  life,  which  cannot  be  set  aside. 


THE   WAYS  OP  WOMEN. 

Persevering  attempts  of  vegetarian  reformers  to  convert  men 
and  women  to  their  theories,  propped  up  by  the  representations 
of  the  saving  to  be  realized  by  returning  to  acorns,  never  have 
succeeded.  Every  little  while  a  new  aspirant  for  fame  springs 
into  transitory  notice,  to  melt  away  under  the  sunshine  of  rea- 
son. There  is  no  lack  of  converts  when  a  new  dietetic  doctrine 
is  first  announced.  There  is  a  kind  of  romance  in  subsisting  on 
next  to  nothing.  Instead  of  needlessly  wasting  precious  hours 
of  a  short  existence  in  roasting  legs  of  mutton,  making  pancakes 
and  pudding,  the  whole  twenty-four  devoted  to  rejoicings  over 
a  glorious  emancipation  from  the  restraints  and  refinements  of 
a  burdensome  civilization,  is  more  poetical  than  profitable. 
With  all  the  enthusiasm  which  usually  characterizes  the  ardor 
of  new  disciples  to  any  ultra  proposition,  the  vegetarians  fall 
from  grace,  and  ultimately  sin  against  arguments  that  were 
plausible  enough  at  first,  by  returning  to  their  former  habits  of 
living  like  sensible  beings,  in  conformity  to  the  usages  of  society 
in  which  their  destiny  is  cast. 

How  ridiculous  to  attempt  reasoning  men  and  women 
into  a  conviction  that  their  five  special  senses  are  not  to  be 
gratified,  because  it  is  displeasing  to  their  Creator  to  indulge 
in  anything  he  has  bountifully  supplied,  simply  as  temptations, 
but  not  for  consumption. 

Of  all  modern  reformers,  vegetarians  have  the  most  dis- 
couraging prospect  of  success.  It  is  recorded  that  Paracelsus 
prided  himself  in  having  discovered  the  true  elixir  of  life.  It 
was  an  expensive  preparation  which  only  kings  could  purchase, 
in  expectation  of  living  and  ruling  for  ever  on  earth.  While 
glorying  in  his  pride,  that  his  researches  in  occult  science  had 
terminated  so  favorably,  he  died  with  a  bottle  of  his  life-pre- 
server in  his  pocket,  at  the  age  of  forty ! 


168  THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN. 

OK  WHAT  SHOULD  WE  SUBSIST? 

Not  waiting  for  an  echo  to  answer  the  question,  reason 
says,  whatever  relishes.  Any  arbitrary  system  that  prescribes 
positive  rules  and  articles,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  must 
be  wrong. 

Dyspepsia  was  never  cured  by  a  spare  diet.  The  false  but 
fashionable  direction  for  these  whining,  complaining,  gaunt 
appendages  of  society,  who  are  dying  of  indigestion,  is  the  sure 
way  of  hastening  their  departure  to  that  bourne  from  whence 
no  traveller  returns. 

Dyspeptic  invalids,  besides  slowly  starving  themselves  in 
the  midst  of  inviting  plenty,  pretty  uniformly  are  all  the  while 
under  medical  treatment  which  is  not  required. 

Assisting  nature  instead  of  thwarting  her  behests,  by  faring 
sumptuously  every  day  on  the  bounties  a  kind  Providence 
provides,  offers  a  far  better  prospect  of  relief  and  a  speedier 
restoration,  than  the  slow,  miserably  wasting-away  course 
usually  pursued  by  intelligent  sufferers. 

This  method  of  treating  dyspepsia,  the  disease  of  comfort- 
able circumstances,  is  no  violation  of  the  rational  laws  of 
health.  Meet  the  malady  with  appropriate  nutrition.  Food 
for  dyspeptics  must  be  neither  too  fine  nor  concentrated,  but  a 
generous  variety  and  of  the  best  quality. 

Those  poor  men  and  women  who  rarely  gratify  their 
palates  with  rich  preparations  which  greet  the  uncertain  ap- 
petites of  the  rich,  are  exempt  from  their  peculiar  sufferings. 

Laboring  people  rarely  ever  have  a  symptom  of  that  bane 
,of  pecuniary  independence, — dyspepsia.  They  sleep  soundly, 
and  awake  refreshed. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  169 

FRUITS. 

Fruits  should  be  more  freely  used.  Apples,  especially,  are 
exceedingly  grateful  to  most  persons.  They  may  be  cooked 
in  many  ways  for  the  table,  contributing  largely  to  good  living. 
Simply  baked,  they  are  excellent  food,  and,  if  eaten  freely  with 
every  meal,  act  very  beneficially  on  the  stomach. 

Fruit-eaters  have  health.  Apples,  pears,  plums,  peaches, 
berries,  and,  lastly,  melons,  may  be  eaten  with  impunity,  if 
fully  ripe.  Children  should  not  be  denied,  but  allowed  to  revel 
in  all  the  fruits  in  their  season.  They  meet  certain  conditions, 
and,  if  withheld,  the  danger  is  far  greater  by  a  denial  than  from 
surfeit. 

Parents  are  quite  apt  to  limit  children  in  the  amount  as 
well  as  the  kind  of  fruit,  on  a  presumptive  theory  of  their  own, 
that  this  or  that  would  be  injurious. 

That  is  altogether  a  mistake.  Crude  fruits  do  derange  the 
bowels,  and  produce  disastrous  consequences.  But  from  ripe,  un- 
less they  engorge  themselves  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  stomach, 
no  harm  need  be  apprehended.  Give  children  all  the  fruit 
they  want.  If  it  were  not  proper  for  them,  they  would  not 
manifest  an  insatiable  relish  for  it. 

CIDER. 

When  cider  was  a  table  beverage  all  over  the  apple  regions 
of  the  Eastern  States,  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  there  was  a  higher 
standard  of  family  health  than  in  these  temperance  times. 
When  the  temperance  reformation  was  inaugurated,  cider  was 
anathematized  as  vulgar ;  besides,  its  tendency  was  to  stimulate, 
and,  therefore,  it  must  be  dropped.  It  disappeared,  and  reap- 
peared in  the  form  of  apple  brandy.  After  the  denouncement 
of  homely,  honest  cider,  which  facilitated  digestion,  and  kept 


170  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

up  the  strength  of  those  hardy  men  who  laid  the  foundation  for 
the  agricultural  beauty  and  wealth  of  New  England,  dyspepsia 
made  its  appearance. 

In  those  good  old  times,  when  honest  men  dealt  honorably, 
cultivated  their  farms,  paid  their  taxes,  and  brought  up  their 
children  to  respect  all  laws,  divine  and  human,  physicians  were 
rarely  called  to  their  families.  When  the  cider  went,  dyspepsia 
came  in  at  the  opposite  door. 

Malic  acid  facilitates  digestion,  without  leaving  any  of  those 
bad  effects  which  follow  the  use  of  distilled  liquors.  Cider 
refreshes  without  leaving  a  sensation  of  lassitude,  or  disturbing 
the  nervous  system, — taken,  as  was  formerly  the  custom,  with 
dinner  and  in  the  field. 

There  were,  occasionally,  hardened  old  cider-drinkers,  who 
took  it  immoderately,  so  as  to  be  remarked  upon  as  simply 
ridiculous,  but  drunkards  are  a  later  race.  They  came  into 
notoriety  with  the  multiplication  of  distilleries  and  the  un- 
popularity of  cider. 

Physicians  are  guilty  of  a  great  moral  wrong,  by  encour- 
aging the  use  of  whiskey,  the  curse  of  this  magnificent  country, 
where  man  alone  is  vile.  Were  dyspeptics  to  adopt  cider  as  a 
diluent  of  their  food,  and  totally  abstain  from  tea,  coffee,  and, 
above  all,  whiskey,  brandy,  and  wines,  they  could  not  be  worse 
for  it,  and  might  regain  their  health. 

There  must  be  caution  in  the  purchase  of  what  is  sold  for 
cider.  It  is  now  manufactured  extensively  out  of  anything  but 
apples.  It  is  sold  under  the  name  of  champagne  cider,  and 
that,  too,  is  an  outrageous  imposition,  and  a  dangerous  com- 
pound for  invalids. 

The  true  medicinal  cider — that  which  a  dyspeptic  lady  or 
gentleman  might  take  by  the  tumbler-full  several  times  a  day — 
should  be  such  as  is  put  up  in  barrels  by  the  farmer  in  the  inte- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

rior,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  cheating  ways  of  trade.  Drawn 
from  the  barrel  as  it  is  to  be  used,  and  never  permitted  to  stand 
till  it  becomes  stale  and  loses  its  effervescent  smartness,  it  will 
accomplish  all  that  is  claimed  for  it  in  this  plea. 

In  these  generalizations,  in  reference  to  a  very  common  con- 
dition of  ladies  of  middle  age,  and  sometimes  in  young  ladies 
whose  lives  have  been  too  artificial,  we  have  urged  a  new  way 
of  meeting  their  thin,  shadowy  forms,  pale  faces,  attenuated 
arms,  flat  chests,  hollow  cheeks,  and  lassitude.  Exercise  on 
foot,  indulge  in  luscious  fruits,  take  less  tea  and  concentrated 
food,  and,  by  all  means,  patronize  good,  fresh,  effervescing 
cider.  The  farmer's  daughter  escapes  dyspepsia  till  she  resides 
in  a  city  where  physicians  are  as  plenty  as  lamp-posts,  but  not 
always  as  useful  in  showing  the  way. 

EXERCISES. 

Proper  exercise  in  the  open  air,  which  has  been  urgently  re- 
commended in  these  pages  ;  an  elastic,  light  bed,  in  a  properly 
ventilated  dormitory ;  early  rising,  if  the  lady  has  no  further 
inclination  for  sleep ;  occupation  alternating  with  agreeable 
amusements  in  the  society  of  friends,  or  books ;  and  always 
keeping  physicians  and  drugs  so  distant  as  to  be  seen  only 
through  a  telescope, — would  bring  feeble  women,  and  pale,  slen- 
der, drooping  girls  into  the  fold  of  Hygeia.  Women  have 
great  need  for  making  an  effort,  for  they  not  only  have  very 
much  degenerated,  but  they  are  further  deteriorating,  especially 
in  cities. 

Kesolve  to  rise  above  indolence ;  and  instead  of  reclining 
in  an  easy  chair,  with  an  India  shawl  over  the  shoulders,  occa- 
sionally tasting  with  a  teaspoon  some  delicacy,  and  when  the 
clock  strikes,  very  punctually  taking  either  drops  or  pills — dis- 
card the  whole  of  them. 


172  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Arouse  from  the  insidious  lethargy  that  holds  you  in  its 
folds,  and  face  the  breezes  on  foot  many  times  in  twenty-four 
hours.  When  fatigued  by  long  walks,  take  a  refreshing  nap ; 
next  some  substantial  refreshment,  and  at  reasonable  inter- 
vals, repeat  the  exercise ;  when  the  weather  is  unfavorable,  over- 
see the  house,  look  into  the  larder,  calculate  what  will  relish 
for  next  day's  dinner. 

TIMING  FOOD  TO  THE  SEASON. 

Fruits  come  to  maturity  at  precisely  the  period  when  they 
are  most  serviceable.  In  their  perfection,  when  their  juices  are 
fresh,  and  grateful  to  the  palate,  the  system  is  immensely  bene- 
fited by  a  free  use  of'  them.  It  is  not  material  whether  a  peach, 
a  melon,  or  a  cluster  of  grapes,  is  taken  at  break  of  day,  with 
breakfast,  at  noon,  night  or  midnight.  "When  the  stomach 
craves  them,  it  is  the  time  to  feast  upon  them.  Still  it  is  her- 
alded from  sources  respected  as  oracular,  by  those  who  never 
think  for  themselves,  the  eating  of  fruit  should  almost  be  regu- 
lated by  statute  law. 

Those  persons  for  whom  no  one  seems  to  care,  those  who 
get  what  they  can,  and  when  they  can,  unrestrained  by  arbitrary 
rules  in  respect  to  living,  suffer  none  of  the  predicted  evils  from 
satisfying  their  appetites  at  any  hour. 

It  is  simply  convenient  to  have  specified  hours  for  meals, 
because  an  orderly  system  is  introduced  into  the  arrangements 
of  a  family.  There  is  economy  of  time  in  having  regular  hours 
for  all  employments.  An  established  habit  of  dining  or  sup- 
ping at  any  particular  hour,  educates  the  stomach  for  that 
period.  Any  marked  deviations  from  a  habit  disturb  its  func- 
tions, simply  because  the  digestive  organs  are  not  ready,  or  hav- 
ing been  so,  and  not  being  provided  for,  ruffles  the  temper,  quick- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

ens  the  pulse,  and  thereby  produces  nervous  irritability.  Fruits 
are  of  such  inestimable  value  in  the  maintenance  of  individual 
as  well  as  public  health,  efforts  should  be  made,  particularly  in 
compact  cities,  to  provide  the  poor  with  it  on  a  scale  of  liber- 
ality never  yet  inaugurated. 

Poor  children  seize  upon  unripe  and  decayed  remnants  with 
a  ravenous  desire  for  them,  as  the  season  approaches  for  their 
appearance  in  market,  which  quickens  the  death  record  enor- 
mously ;  but  ripe  fruits  correct  and  fortify  the  system  just  when 
a  summer  atmosphere  is  charged  with  elements  that  require 
counteracting  agencies  abounding  in  ripe  fruits. 

Benevolent  schemes  for  ameliorating  the  circumstances  of 
the  poor  will  not  be  complete  till  some  kind-hearted  Croesus 
provides  for  supplying  them  with  generous  supplies  from  the 
advent  of  strawberries  to  the  gathering  of  grapes  in  autumn. 

A  benevolent  Frenchman,  Monsieur  P.  P.  F.  Degrand,  left 
a  handsome  sum  at  his  death,  in  Boston,  the  interest  of  which 
is  to  be  annually  expended  in  picture  books  for  poor  children. 
Besides  gratifying  the  curiosity  of  the  poor  little  recipients, 
who,  otherwise,  could  never  possess  such  a  treasure  as  one  of 
those  instructive  works  appears  in  their  estimation,  they  de- 
velop a  love  for  reading,  cultivate  their  taste,  and  bring  out 
the  first  desire  for  improvement. 

Fruits  are  always  dear  in  this  very  fruitful  country.  The 
production  has  never  been  equal  to  the  demand.  Perhaps  culti- 
vators never  wish  to  have  them,  as  it  would  interfere  with  their 
profits.  It  is  certain,  that  an  acre  of  ground  devoted  to  the  grow- 
ing of  almost  any  kind  of  fruit  would  yield  a  far  larger  revenue 
than  corn,  potatoes,  or  grain,  requiring  a  severe  expenditure  of 
labor  in  ploughing,  hoeing,  and  harvesting.  Why  are  not  hund- 
reds of  acres  set  with  fruit  trees  where  there  is  now  not  one  ? 

The  poor  long  for  fruits  they  cannot  have,  on  account  of  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

price,  disproportioned  to  their  means.  They  barely  procure 
what  are  called  necessaries — which  means  beef,  pork,  etc. ;  but 
it  may  be  positively  affirmed  that  fruit  is  quite  as  necessary,  and 
far  more  important  to  them  in  their  season. 

A  relish  for  fruits  is  not  an  acquired  one,  but  born  with  us 
— and  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  acids,  saccharine  juices, 
and  delicious  flavors  into  the  system. 

Farmers !  raise  more  fruit,  and  let  the  rich  distribute  it  gener- 
ously in  tenement-house,  cellars,  shanties, — indeed,  everywhere, 
in  lanes  and  filthy  streets,  where  the  poor  are  doomed  to  reside. 
It  would  arrest  diseases,  it  would  relieve  sufferings,  meet  the 
urgent  demands  of  the  sick  -and  feeble,  and  stimulate  them  to 
efforts  for  improving  their  circumstances. 

Many  imperfections  in  our  civilization  might  be  corrected, 
•  politically  and  morally.  We  are  a  confederacy  of  meat-eaters, 
without  much  regard  to  its  quality  or  quantity.  We  all  con- 
sume too  much  meat.  Once  a  day  is  enough  in  this  climate. 

Fruit-raisers  are  vehement  in  their  assertions  that  it  is  not 
only  an  unremunerative  branch  of  industry,  but  there  is  also  a 
danger  of  over-stocking  the  market.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
prospect  of  overdoing  the  business.  Since  the  process  of  pre- 
serving fruit  is  thoroughly  understood,  not  a  peach  need  be 
lost,  or  a  pear  allowed  to  decay.  The  whole  world  over,  they 
are  regarded  as  luxuries,  and  have  a  sure  sale.  If  there  is  any- 
thing to  be  apprehended  unfavorable  to  the  fruit-growers'  in- 
terest, it  is  that  his  avarice  may  urge  him  to  ask  more  than  they 
are  worth.  Fruit-extortioners  require  rebuking. 

To  BE  ENCOURAGED. 

As  eminently  contributing  to  the  stability  of  public  health, 
and  to  the  every-day  comfort  and  improvement  of  the  people, 
the  use  of  fish  and  fruit  should  be  encouraged  and  upheld  by 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  175 

special  laws.  In  China,  the  consumption  of  fish  is  amazing ; 
and  nowhere  is  the  public  health,  considering  the  denseness  ot 
the  population,  more  satisfactory.  If  rice  and  fish,  the  staples 
of  life  there,  are  reasons  why  neither  plagues  nor  endemics  are 
common,  they  might  enter  more  freely  into  our  own  dietary 
with  manifest  advantage.  The  Chinese  are  strong,  well  de- 
veloped, and  possess  extraordinary  powers  of  endurance. 
True,  they  require  prodigious  quanties  of  rice  twice  a  day, 
fish  being  scarcely  more  than  a  savory  relish,  although  they 
consider  it  essential  to  strength  and  vigor. 

An  educated  Chinese  brain,  even  under  their  objectionable 
civilization,  is  abundantly  able  to  cope  with  the  best  diplo- 
matic skill  of  Europe.  Much  as  they  are  underrated,  their 
government  antedates  the  oldest  in  Europe  by  thousands  of 
years ;  and  many  of  the  useful  arts  and  important  discoveries — 
pillars  on  which  the  proud  edifice  of  modern  institutions  are 
sustained — of  incalculable  importance  to  progressive  humanity, 
actually  originated  among  those  Mongolians,  whom  we  are 
taught  to  believe  our  intellectual  inferiors.  We  may  not 
drink  as  much  tea,  stow  away  as  much  rice  at  a  meal,  or  be 
as  well  satisfied  with  fish  at  every  meal,  yet  they  are  by  no 
means  to  be  undervalued  for  their  attainments  in  art  or 
government.  Both  are  venerable  for  age. 

Too  MUCH  MEAT. 

"Women  with  us  consume  too  much  meat — the  result  of  a 
mistake  in  the  beginning.  Neither  the  severity  of  the  climate, 
nor  the  necessities  of  their  systems,  require  it  in  large 
quantities. 

Their  indoor  employments,  with  few  exceptions,  are  such, 
a  lighter  and  more  easily  digested  food  than  meats  would  be 
better  for  them.  Farinaceous  articles,  including  an  abundance 


176  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

of  fruit,  fresh,  cooked,  or  preserved,  should  be  provided  in  all 
well-regulated  families,  especially  where  there  are  female  chil- 
dren. Eggs  and  fish  are  proper,  and  avoiding  pork  always. 
Mutton  is  the  most  wholesome  next  to  good  beef.  Sparkling 
eyes,  an  elastic  step,  elegant  figures,  a  good  temper,  and 
quiet  deportment,  depend  essentially  on  the  food  we  are 
habitually  consuming. 

Irritability, — a  desponding,  dissatisfied  state  of  mind,  which 
gives  a  false  coloring  to  nature,  and  makes  women  dissatisfied 
with  themselves,  and  with  all  with  whom  they  associate, — may 
be  often  traced  to  their  improper  food. 

It  is  their  mission  to  keep  man,  who  is  prone  to  displays 
of  passion  and  outbursts  of  rage,  in  a  bearable  condition,  by 
their  talismanic  presence.  They  would  not  be  bearable  even  to 
one  another,  were  it  not  for  the  magnetic  influence  of  woman, 
who  is  the  agent  of  all  civilization,  and  certainly  of  refinement 
and  morality.  Even  when  silent,  she  rules  the  storms  of 
human  fury,  and  calms  the  savage  exhibitions  of  wrath  in 
men,  by  the  charms  of  her  character. 

To  succeed,  she  must  neither  dine  on  pork,  nor  inflame  her 
blood  with  heavy,  indigestible  aliments. 

Finally,  less  animal  food  than  is  now  customary ;  abstinence 
from  all  heating,  fiery  drinks,  which  are  never  necessary  for 
man  or  woman  ;  varying  the  diet,  so  as  not  to  become  weary 
of  any  particular  article  or  composition, — would  improve  us. 
It  would  give  young  growing  girls  a  robust  constitution,  provided 
there  is  no  limitation  to  out-door  freedom.  With  such  simple 
means,  the  women  of  this  country  may  be  regenerated ;  and 
their  successors,  the  mothers  of  the  coming  men  of  renown, 
would  be  sound  in  body  and  strong  in  mind. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
INTERNAL  STRUCTURE  OF  WOMEN. 

Character  of  the  Chest — Compression  of  Blood-vessels — Healthy  Children — 
Their  Management — Scheme  of  the  Circulation — Effects  of  Anger — 
The  Heart^Its  Irritability— Origin  of  its  Power— Sudden  Death— Be 
Moderate — Dropsical  Effusions. 

THERE  is  no  apparent  difference  in  the  form  or  functions  of 
the  viscera  of  the  chest,  or  in  the  structure  of  the  stomach  and 
its  appendages,  in  men  and  women. 

In  consequence  of  the  cramped  position  of  the  inferior  ribs, 
forced  mechanically  out  of  the  line  of  natural  incurvation  by 
stays,  it  is  possible  that  the  shape  of  the  lower  portion  of  the 
lungs  might  give  a  clue  to  the  sex  to  which  they  belonged,  in 
a  judicial  inquiry  where  that  point  was  a  question. 

The  chests  of  young  ladies  in  our  time,  and  in  all  Christian 
countries  in  which  there  is  an  upper  class,  are  trained  with 
quite  as  much  care  as  gardeners  bestow  upon  running  vines  to 
give  them  direction.  An  experimental  effort,  to  determine 
from  whence  a  pair  of  lungs  were  taken,  might  be  decided  by 
the  distortion  of  the  bones  about  the  cavity  from  which  they 
were  detached.  On  the  supposition  that  no  interference  with 
the  bones  had  ever  occurred,  neither  exterior  nor  interior  struc- 
tural appearances  would  be  any  guide  in  reference  to  the  sex  of 
the  individual. 

It  is  barely  within  the  limits  of  possibility  that  a  great  crime 
might  require  a  decision  in  answer  to  a  judicial  question,  Were 
these  the  lungs  of  a  man  or  a  woman  ?  A  key  for  unlocking  a 


178  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

mystery  is  to  be  found  by  a  simple  examination  of  the  inferior 
margins  of  the  lobes. 

In  a  normally  developed  chest  there  is  breadth  at  the  base ; 
whereas,  in  artificially  shaped  ones,  the  lower  part,  which  should 
be  roomy,  is  contracted,  which  obliges  the  lungs  to  conform  to 
the  cavity  in  which  they  are  lodged. 

The  lungs  must  necessarily  expand  with  each  inhalation  of 
air.  If  the  pulmonary  cells  are  unnaturally  small  in  one  section 
of  the  lobes,  others  beyond  the  sphere  of  restraint,  by  reason  of 
outside  bands,  will  enlarge  to  abnormal  dimensions  higher  up. 
Surface  is  essential  for  the  aeration  of  the  blood.  If  that  process 
is  imperfectly  accomplished,  vitality  is  either  quickly  reduced, 
or  may  never  have  been  fully  developed  after  the  body  was 
fashionably  put  into  harness. 

A  pale  skin,  feebleness,  unsound  health,  are  the  penalties 
for  tampering  with  such  delicately  organized  tissues  as  enter 
into  the  composition  of  the  lungs. 

Between  the  extremities  of  the  superior  ribs — seven  in 
number  on  each  side — the  breast-bone,  in  children,  is  made  up 
of  several  distinct  pieces.  Through  all  the  early  periods  of 
childhood,  it  may  be  readily  forced  from  its  normal  relations 
by  keeping  up  a  continual  pressure  in  front.  The  sternum,  or 
breast-bone,  is  simply  a  front  wall,  while  the  ribs  and  spine  are 
lateral  and  posterior  protections  of  the  contents  of  the  pleural 
cavities. 

MODIFYING  THE  CHEST. 

Being  never  firmly  ossified,  even  in  advanced  age,  in  females, 
it  is  always  in  danger  of  being  injured  by  their  modes  of  dress- 
ing. Women  can  be  remodeled,  on  coming  from  the  studios  of 
nature,  under  the  plastic  hand  of  the  goddess  of  fashion,  to 
almost  any  pattern. 


THE   WAYS   OF  WOMEN.  1Y9 

By  lacing  the  chest  in  unelastic  corsets  the  form  is  mate- 
rially changed,  always  to  the  injury  of  the  individual.  But 
that  seems  not  of  the  slightest  consequence,  since  to  live, 
breathe,  and  have  a  vulgar  form,  which  the  Divine  Artist  gave 
to  humanity,  has  been  entirely  ignored  by  our  refined,  chaste 
conceptions  of  what  female  humanity  should  be,  to  meet  the 
approval  of  cultivated  taste. 

The  lower  pendant  extremity  of  the  breast-bone  (zyphoid 
cartilage)  is  quite  flexible.  If  garments  are  tightly  fitted  to  a 
waist  already  warped  inwardly,  to  diminish  its  transverse  dia- 
meter, the  cartilaginous  point  is  forced  further  inwardly,  so  as 
to  encroach  on  organs  lying  directly  behind. 

Some  years  ago,  in  the  course  of  daily  lectures  in  a  school 
of  medicine,  it  was  discovered,  incidentally,  that  the  skin  wae 
abraded  and  extremely  red  over  the  pit  of  the  stomach  of  the 
female  subject  upon  the  table. 

Evidently,  there  had  been  severe  blisterings,  which  indi- 
cated some  local  difficulty  that  external  irritants  were  in- 
tended to  relieve.  A  history  of  the  case  could  not  be  obtained. 
An  exploration  revealed  the  fact  that  the  lower  end  of  the 
breast-bone  had  been  so  pressed  upon  by  force  from  without,  as 
to  bend  it  almost  at  a  right  angle.  It  was  actually  pricking, 
as  it  were,  perpetually.  Internal  inflammation  resulted,  and 
no  doubt  the  patient  had  suffered  long  and  intensely  from  a 
deep-seated  pain  which  no  treatment  could  relieve, — it  being, 
literally,  a  thorn  in  the  flesh. 

Both  the  pancreas  and  considerable  of  a  patch  of  the  under 
surface  of  the  diaphragm  had  become  diseased  by  being  near 
the  engorged  vessels. 

This  illustrates  the  danger  that  may  ensue  by  interfering 
with  a  living  body  regularly  and  harmoniously  performing  its 
functions. 


180  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

It  is  quite  familiar  to  surgeons  that  when  an  artery  is 
enlarged  into  an  aneurism,  if  one  side  of  it  touches  a  bone, 
gradually  the  solid  structure  will  be  removed  by  absorption 
at  the  point  of  contact. 

Bones  will  not  resist  continued  pressure  without  exhibiting 
disturbance.  Therefore  all  appliances  unfortunately  imagined 
to  improve  the  female  form,  even  when  quite  gently  com- 
menced on  the  chest,  are  positively  reprehensible.  Girding 
the  chest  when  the  bones  are  imperfectly  ossified,  is  extremely 
dangerous. 

Swathing  the  frail,  imperfectly  made  bones  of  newly-born 
children  with  bandages,  rollers,  or  bands,  a  custom  of  almost 
universal  practice  even  among  intelligent  mothers,  on  the 
mistaken  idea  that  their  backs  require  some  support, — is  worse 
than  barbarism. 

It  is  as  absurd  to  swathe  a  new-born  babe  as  the  Indian 
custom  of  lashing  them  to  a  piece  of  bark,  to  make  them 
straight.  Civilized  cruelty  inflicted  on  an  unresisting  infant 
is  a  crime,  which,  in  a  more  advanced  state  of  civilization,  may 
become  an  offence  recognizable  by  the  law. 

Besides  irritation  of  the  skin,  many  a  suffering  child  has 
been  sent  screaming  with  torments  into  eternity  through  the 
well-meaning  intentions  of  an  affectionate  mother,  who  would 
have  felt  herself  guilty  of  the  sin  of  neglect  had  she  failed  to 
begin  to  make  her  child  beautiful  while  its  body  was  flexible 
and  yielding. 

Elastic  flannel  bandages,  especially  made  to  be  easy,  are 
abominable  inventions.  Cotton  swathes,  or  any  other  band- 
aging, is  a  dreadful  source  of  annoyance  and  misery  to  a 
nursing  babe,  of  which  they  would  loudly  complain  in  tones 
far  louder  than  crying,  if  they  could  speak  of  their  misery. 

Swathed  from  their  arm-pits  to  their  hips  compresses  the 


THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

blood-vessels ;  prevents  the  action  of  muscles  that  ought  to  be 
continually  exercised,  and  must  in  the  nature  of  things  be  a 
torment  an  adult  would  not  submit  to,  even  in  stays,  were  it  not 
for  the  impression  that  those  who  are  thus  self-tormented,  are 
making  their  forms  more  agreeable  objects  for  other  eyes  to 
contemplate. 

MUSCULAR  FREEDOM 

Perfect  freedom  of  body  should  be  granted  the  child  from 
birth.  No  restraints,  not  absolutely  necessary  for  cleanliness, 
should  be  imposed.  Poor  little  things,  they  are  dosed  with 
nauseous  drugs,  made  to  swallow  composing-drops  unwillingly, 
and  killed  by  well-intended  measures  for  improving  their 
forms.  All  the  anxieties  and  difficulties  attending  the  rearing 
of  children,  might  be  avoided  by  simply  letting  them  alone. 
The  poor  raise  large  families  successfully,  because  they  have 
no  time  to  spare  in  killing  them  by  attempts  to  undo  what 
nature  will  do,  if  not  meddled  with  while  engaged  in  perfect- 
ing her  beautiful  designs. 

Children  come  into  the  world  with  all  the  machinery  of 
organic  life  new  and  perfect.  The  mother's  milk,  which  is  their 
due,  and  not  that  of  a  hired  nurse,  contains  precisely  the 
materials  for  increasing  the  dimensions  of  the  whole  system  and 
providing  nourishment  for  each  individual  organ.  Civilization, 
however,  is  not  satisfied  with  appearances,  and  immediately 
commences  schemes  for  improvement." 

Like  some  unskilled  artisans  who,  overrating  their  own 
acquirements,  often  spoil  what  they  vainly  attempt  to  improve, 
— so  children  that  would  have  lived  are  victims  to  rude  attempts 
to  better  what  the  Creator  pronounced  good  when  it  left  the 
laboratory,  where  it  was  fashioned  in  marvellous  beauty  and 
perfection. 


182  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Infantile  bandaging,  commenced  when  the  bones  are  ductile, 
is  the  beginning,  oftentimes,  of  a  narrow  chest,  which  would 
have  had  ample  dimensions,  had  it  not  been  tampered  with 
before  the  framework  of  the  skeleton  expanded  into  full  pro- 
portions. This  civilized  cruelty  is  the  origin  of  an  enfeebled 
constitution.  If  no  interference  were  practised  with  a  deter- 
mination to  alter  the  shape  which  would  have  been  developed, 
the  physical  condition  of  woman  would  not  be  so  generally 
defective  as  it  is  now  known  to  be. 

Were  children  from  the  first  permitted  to  breathe  uncon- 
taminated  air,  by  being  removed  from  the  too  frequently 
vitiated  atmosphere  of  an  over- warmed  nursery,  nurtured  on  the 
mother's  milk,  instead  of  that  of  another  woman's,  whose  phy- 
sical and  moral  condition  are  entirely  different,  the  child  would 
present,  in  all  its  after-life,  a  very  different  condition.  Milk 
from  another  source,  although  secreted  in  the  breast  of  a  healthy 
nurse,  may  introduce  into  the  structure  of  the  babe  elements 
that  immensely  modify  its  original  constitutional  circumstances. 


A  MOTHER  SHOULD  NURSE  HER  OWN  CHILDREN". 

Here  is  the  gist  of  the  whole  matter.  If  we  are  to  have 
beautiful  and  healthy  children,  the  mother  must  nurse  her  own 
babes.  Very  many  mothers  who  have  no  milk  for  days,  or  even 
weeks  after  confinement,  under  the  impression  that  no  secretion 
will  take  place,  abandon  attempts  to  promote  it,  too  hastily.  By 
repeated  solicitations,  allowing  the  infant  to  draw,  as  though 
the  lactic  flow  were  intact,  stimulates  the  gland,  so  that  milk 
rarely  fails  to  come  by  patient  perseverance. 

Fresh  cow's  milk,  especially  that  from  a  young  animal 
having  a  calf,  is  safer  to  feed  the  infant  upon  till  it  appears  in 
the  fountain  prepared  for  its  secretion,  than  to  furnish  it  from  a 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  183 

wet-nurse,  whose  age,  temperament,  mental,  physical,  and  even 
muscular  condition  are  totally  unlike  those  of  the  mother. 

Leave  off  all  swathes  and  bandages :  that  is  the  second  im- 
portant lesson  to  be  remembered.  Trotting  young  children 
violently,  when  they  cry,  to  quiet  them,  is  a  fearfully  repre- 
hensible practice.  Their  frail  bodies  cannot  bear  such  violence 
without  endangering  internal  organs,  by  actually  tearing  away 
their  attachments,  and  producing  inflammations.  Indeed,  it  is 
always  hazardous  to  throw  them  about  in  the  lap,  as  customary 
with  nurses,  without  the  slightest  reference  to  their  tender  age 
and  unfinished  anatomy. 

By  allowing  infants  to  lie  on  soft  beds  most  of  the  time,  till 
their  spines  are  sufficiently  strong  to  support  them  in  a  sitting 
posture  with  their  playthings,  in  very  loose  clothing,  un- 
smothered,  in  airy  rooms,  always  sleeping  alone,  the  next 
generation  of  women  in  the  United  States  would  be  such  beings 
as  Nature  intended, — fair,  sound,  and  intellectual. 


CHAPTEK  XY. 

OVER-WORKING  THE  HEART. 

Value  of  Rest — Heart's  Irritabilty — Arteries — Circulation — Influence. 

SUDDEN  emotions  derange  the  functions  of  the  heart.  No 
persons  are  more  familiarly  conversant  with  the  effects  of  pain- 
ful or  pleasurable  emotions,  or  the  extraordinary  influence  of 
sad  or  joyful  intelligence,  than  woman. 

Every  one's  experience  furnishes  conclusive  evidence  of  the 
reflex  influence  of  good  or  bad  news,  and  the  varying  pulsations 
of  the  heart,  resulting  from  mental  impressions.  When  two 
beats  are  made  in  consequence  of  some  sudden  emotion,  the 
contractility  of  the  organ  being  quickened  to  perform  twice  the 
service  it  usually  does  in  the  same  measure  of  time,  it  obviously 
tend  to  its  injury. 

In  lesions,  engorgements,  abnormal  depositions  of  fat  within 
the  pericardium,  or  the  valves  becoming  slightly  ossified,  so 
that  the  auricles  and  ventricles  are  imperfectly  closed,  the  ad- 
ministration of  medicine  is  nearly  useless. 

How  is  it  possible  that  a  drug  in  the  stomach,  however 
potent  in  character,  can  remove  a  mechanical  obstruction 
within  the  cavity  of  the  heart  ? 

Rather  than  retire  from  the  turmoils  of  business,  or  fash- 
ionable excitements,  or  striving  for  social  or  political  positions, 
diseases  of  the  heart  are  multiplying.  They  are  not  produced 
by  ordinary  circumstances,  but  are  generally  the  result  of  ex- 
cessive effort  in  some  direction  for  the  attainment  of  an  object, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  185 

worthy  or  unworthy,  which  accelerated  the  activity  of  the 
heart, — a  forcing  engine  on  which  life  depends, — beyond  its  ca- 
pacity. No  permanent  relief  need  be  expected  in  the  shop  of 
an  apothecary.  There  is  no  balm  in  Gilead  for  an  enlarged 
heart,  made  so  by  compelling  it  to  labor  too  much,  or  too  long, 
at  a  rate  beyond  the  motion  it  has  when  no  unnatural  stimulus 
has  hastened  its  systole  and  diastole, — a  succession 'of  relaxa- 
tions and  contractions,  which  are  natural  and  safe.  Unnatural 
movements  endanger  its  mechanism,  especially  if  often  re- 
peated. 

• 

VALUE  OF  REST. 

Rest  is  a  far  better  remedy  for  any  irregularity  in  the  cir- 
culation than  medicine.  Removal  from  the  scene  of  excite- 
ment, and  being  out  of  the  way,  and  beyond  the  sphere  of  asso- 
ciations or  things  which  recall  emotions  that  quicken  the 
heart's  action,  is  the  true  way  of  giving  relief  when  diseased. 

Where  there  are  no  extraordinary  occurrences,  but  each  day 
is  a  calm  reproduction  of  the  past — where  broad  fields,  grazing 
herds,  twittering  songsters  in  the  trees,  and  outgushing  flow- 
ers invite  admiration,  and  the  contemplation  of  nature  in  the 
quietude  of  rural  life,  there  should  patients  with  irregularities 
of  the  heart  take  up  their  residence. 

It  requires  a  nice  power  of  discrimination  to  determine 
whether  a  palpitation  is  caused  by  some  interior  difficulty,  as 
for  example,  a  thickening  of  the  margins  of  the  valves,  ossifi- 
cation, obstruction  in  the  coronary  vessels,  or  arises  from  ner- 
vous debility. 

In  the  latter  case,  the  muscular  power  runs  on  uncontrolled, 
when  the  nervous  power  is  weak,  or  nearly  exhausted.  Thus, 
after  great  fatigue,  cramp  seizes  the  limbs,  the  muscles  con- 
tract spasmodically  and  irregularly,  simply  in  consequence  of 


186  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

nervous  exhaustion.  Sleep,  food,  friction,  and  stimulants  re- 
plenish the  battery,  and  then  the  muscular  force  of  the  vol- 
untary cordage  is  perfectly  subservient  to  volition  again. 

THE  HEART'S  IRRITABILITY. 

With  an  endowment  of  a  kind  of  vitality  peculiar,  and,  to 
some  extent,  independent  of  all  connection  with  the  body,  beat- 
ing and  throbbing  when  completely  detached  from  the  chest, 
the  heart  is  a  wonder  in  itself.  It  is  the  first  to  live  and  the 
last  to  die. 

Laid  upon  a  table,  unconnected  by  either  rterves  or  vessels, 
the  heart  of  a  reptile  will  expand  and  contract  by  the  touch  of  a 
pin.  Though  blood  is  its  appropriate  stimulus,  it  dies  gradually, 
but  may  be  partially  revived  by  the  introduction  of  air,  or  the 
point  of  a  needle. 

The  vital  tenacity  of  the  human  heart  is  equally  surprising. 
It  will  withstand  violent  assault,  deep  wounds  in  its  substance, 
and  eucroachments  of  disease,  far  longer  than  would  be  sup- 
posed, were  it  not  for  revelations  of  morbid  anatomy,  which 
occasionally  demonstrate  under  what  strange  mechanical  de- 
rangements it  can  sustain  life.  Still  it  is  a  mortal  machine,  on 
the  regularity  of  which  depend  life  and  health. 

When  the  heart  fails  prematurely  under  the  pressure  of 
undue  excitement,  death  is  an  inevitable  consequence,  which 
neither  skill  nor  science  can  avert. 

To  determine  the  amount  of  derangement  in  the  system, 
if  any  exists,  physicians  feel  the  pulse  at  the  wrist,  by  pressing 
the  radial  artery  against  the  bone.  The  number  of  beats  there 
corresponds  uniformly  with  those  of  the  heart.  Being  tele- 
graphed through  the  fingers  of  the  examiner,  intelligence 
reaches  the  brain,  where  they  are  diligently  compared  with  his 
watch. 


THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN  187 

One  large  vessel  carries  all  the  blood  forced  from  the  heart. 
By  giving  off  branches,  which  ramify  extensively  and  minutely, 
the  most  distant  fibre  receives  a  proper  amount  of  the  vital  fluid- 


ARTERIES. 

Those  intricately  ramifying  tubes,  finer  than  hairs  in  their 
ultimate  distribution,  furnish  blood  from  the  centre  to  the  whole 
circumference,  in  which,  held  in  solution,  are  properties  for  the 
growth  and  reparation  of  whatever  it  passes  through,  over, 
or  among.  * 

When  those  soluble  vitalizing  elements  have  all  been  left 
along  the  track,  according  to  the  needs  of  each  and  every  part, 
the  blood  then  passes  into  the  extremities  of  veins,  by  which  it 
is  collected  to  be  returned  to  the  right  side  of  the  heart. 

The  blood  goes  out  of  the  left  venticle,  from  the  left  side  of 
the  heart,  of  a  rich  red  color,  but  it  comes  back  to  the  other  side 
of  the  heart,  of  a  dark  bluish  color. 

When  the  ventricle  is  fully  distended,  the  walls  of  the  heart 
suddenly  contract  with  a  twisting  motion  of  its  fibres,  forcing 
the  bluish  blood  through  the  pulmonary  artery  into  the  lungs, 
where  it  is  brought  in  contact  with  atmospheric  air,  from  which, 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  it  absorbs  its  oxygen,  gives  off  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  and  then  plunges  into  the  left  side  of  the  heart 
to  repeat  its  rounds  again. 

CIRCULATION. 

Thus  the  blood  is  going  and  coming  unceasingly  from  the 
first  pulsation  the  heart  ever  made  in  its  elementary,  unfinished 
condition  in  utero,  till  its  last  beat,  a  death-kell  at  the  close  of 
life. 


188  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

When  the  heart  pulsates  too  slowly,  or  too  rapidly,  the 
physician  forms  an  opinion,  decides  upon  the  character  of  the 
disease  for  which  his  advice  is  sought.  He  ought  to  be  so 
thoroughly  instructed,  the  least  deviation  from  a  normal  stand- 
ard of  health  may  be  quickly  recognized. 

In  this  climate,  ordinarily,  the  heart  beats  from  about  sixty- 
five  to  seventy-eight  strokes  in  a  minute.  Some,  with  the  aspect 
of  sound  health,  have  only  sixty,  or  even  fewer,  and  there  are 
others  in  equally  sound  condition,  whose  pulse  habitually  exceeds 
eighty. 

A  pulse,  however,  varying  through  the  whole  twenty-four 
hours,  according  to  the  stimulant  effects  of  food  and  drinks, 
does  not  indicate  sickness.  There  may  be  a  sudden  alarm, 
through  the  acoustic  nerve,  the  instantaneous  apprehension  of 
danger  through  the  optic  nerves,  by  the  sight  of  the  edge  of  a 
precipice,  a  falling  rock,  an  approaching  wave,  or  terrific  explo- 
sions of  thunder,  or  the  flashings  of  lightning  in  the  sky,  which 
may  instantaneously  increase  the  action  of  the  heart  to  more 
than  a  hundred  strokes.  Through  the  nerves  of  sense,  so 
great  has  been  the  shock  that  the  heart  has  burst. 

INFLUENCE  OF  ANGEE. 

Extreme  paroxysms  of  anger  are  sometimes  fatal  by  an  ex- 
plosion of  life,  as  it  were.  The  heart  resists  spasmodic  demand 
made  upon  it  to  empty  its  cavities,  and  bursts.  Rents  in  its 
walls,  which  are  almost  instantaneous  death,  have  often  been 
found  produced  by  extreme  exhibitions  of  rage.  It  is  always 
dangerous  to  indulge  in  unrestrained  wrath,  especially  for 
women  of  a  nervous  sanguine  temperament. 

"With  some,  the  pulse  is  preternaturally  rapid.  Others  are 
equally  remarkable  for  the  moderation  of  the  heart,  always 
moving  at  a  very  nearly  uniform  rate. 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  189 

Blood,  which  is  a  vital  fluid,  is  driven  through  the  arterial 
canals  at  an  average  velocity  in  health.  It  is  neither  hurried 
nor  retarded  by  trivial  circumstances.  When  the  heart  beats  a 
hundred  times  in  a  minute,  it  is  a  sign  something  is  wrong,  if 
it  continues  for  a  considerable  time  to  throb  and  labor  thus 
actively.  When  by  treatment  that  rapid  action  cannot  be 
moderated,  death's  messenger  is  in  waiting.  With  all  the 
poetry  with  which  the  human  heart  is  invested,  it  is  simply  a 
forcing-pump  of  immense  energy.  Instead  of  being  kept  in 
motion  by  exterior  stimuli,  it  contains  within  itself  contractile 
fibres,  which  are  obedient  to  the  contact  of  blood.  Its  presence 
in  the  interior  of  the  organ  calls  into  action  a  mass  of  winding 
muscular  threads,  whose  combined  contractile  force  is  equal  to 
the  grip  of  a  strong  vice,  in  expelling  the  current  that  has  just 
arrived. 

A  relaxation  succeeds  the  violent  contraction  of  the  walls. 
For  an  instant,  those  ever-working  muscular  filaments  rest, 
then  resume  labor  again. 

THE  HEART  A  DOUBLE  FORCING-ENGINE. 

More  critically  considered,  we  really  possess  two  hearts. 
One  of  them  belongs  to  the  lungs,  while  the  other  is  for  the 
body.  They  are  joined  together,  and,  therefore,  have  the 
appearance  of  a  single  organ.  Nature  invariably  economizes 
room.  By  uniting  the  two  hearts,  the  necessity  of  having 
separate  apartments  was  obviated,  when  one  would  answer  all 
purposes. 

In  some  reptiles,  the  two  hearts  have  been  found  separated. 
We  have  an  indistinct  recollection  of  having  read  of  a  case  in 
which  the  two  hearts  were  at  considerable  distance  from  each 
other,  in  a  patient  carried  to  an  European  hospital. 


190  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

One  heart  receives  all  the  deteriorated  blood,  by  which  is 
understood  that  gathered  up  and  brought  to  the  right  heart, 
having  left  its  life-sustaining  properties  in  passing  through  the 
body.  Being  again  forced  into  the  lungs  by  an  immensely 
powerful  forcing-pump,  it  there  again  imbibes  oxygen  from 
air  waiting  for  it  in  the  cellular  structure  of  those  mem- 
branous sacs.  From  thence  it  is  again  forced  into  the  upper 
part  of  the  left  heart,  on  the  left  side  of  the  chest,  and  next 
into  its  ventricle,  more  powerful  as  a  forcing-engine  than  any 
of  the  others,  which  drives  the  living  current  into  a  single 
elastic  tube,  the  aorta,  to  pursue  its  mission  through  the  system 
again. 

The  irritability  of  the  heart,  from  the  earliest  embryotic 
condition  to  one  hundred  years — and  in  Henry  Jenkins,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  years — is  not  well  understood. 

Two  French  physiologists  have  announced  the  discovery, 
says  report,  of  two  nerves  that  have  heretofore  escaped  the 
inquisitive  researches  of  anatomists,  creeping  out  from  the  side 
of  the  vertebral  column,  which  ramify  extensively  in  the 
tissues  of  the  heart,  and  through  their  instrumentality  the 
motor  power  is  kept  up. 

A  certain  Dr.  Cyon,  of  France,  has  sent  forth  a  learned 
dissertation  on  the  heart's  innervation,  explanatory  of  the 
function  of  those  newly  discovered  cords.  One  of  them  is 
recognized  as  the  accelerator,  and  the  other  the  motor  nerve. 

How  it  happens  that  a  heart  pulsates  when  severed  from 
its  connections  entirely,  for  more  than  half  an  hour,  makes  the 
problem  of  its  independent  vitality  more  abstruse. 

EXCITABILITY. 

As  a  people,  we  have  a  reputation  for  being  always  in  haste. 
As  a  consequence  of  this  hurrying  propensity,  both  men  and 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

women  wear  themselves  out  prematurely.  Merchants  are  over- 
anxious to  be  rich ;  ladies,  too,  ambitious  beyond  reason,  over- 
work their  hearts. 

Sudden  death  from  heart-disease  is  a  common  coroner's 
report.  Juries  of  inquests  have  not  assumed  the  responsibility 
they  would  be  justified  in  taking,  by  a  verdict  of  over-excite- 
ment of  the  brain,  or  over-taxing  the  heart. 

Competition  in  trade,  deferred  hopes,  unexpected  disap- 
pointments, pecuniary  losses,  a  reckless  determination  to  carry 
measures  which  are  extremely  hazardous,  often  resulting  in 
disastrous  failures,  shock  the  nervous  system  by  a  reflex  action 
upon  an  over-excited  brain  that  recoils  upon  the  heart. 

A  familiar  expression — broken  heart — is  not  inappropriate. 
They  do  break.  Mental  emotions  may  be  so  intensified  as  to 
produce  paralysis  of  the  heart.  A  fatal  spasm  of  its  muscular 
walls  is  induced  from  a  sudden  painful  impression  or  fright. 
Sudden  deaths  from  such  causes  cannot  be  reasonably  doubted. 

A  fearful  penalty  of  a  violation  of  a  law  of  health,  is  when  a 
person  concentrates  too  much  will-power  suddenly.  Revenge  or 
hate,  while  under  the  influence  of  stimulants  or  excessive  politi- 
cal excitement,  may  end  in  instantaneous  death  from  a  spasm  of 
the  heart.  When  a  contraction  is  accomplished  under  such 
circumstances,  it  holds  its  grip,  and  death  closes  the  scene. 
Sometimes  there  is  a  rent  in  the  flesh  of  the  heart,  through 
which  a  gush  of  blood  escapes  into  the  heart-case,— -pericar- 
dium, and  that  is  a  death-lesion  for  which  there  is  no  relief. 

Moderation  in  legitimate  pursuits  should  be  encouraged. 
"  Be  not  too  ardent "  is  a  caution  to  be  remembered,  especially  by 
youthful,  sprightly,  passionate  young  ladies. 

Formerly,  the  heart  was  supposed  to  be  the  abode  of  moral 
sentiments.  It  has  the  credit  of  being  open  to  amatory  impres- 
sions, as  the  focus  of  the  affections  and  the  fountain  of  love. 


192  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

When  that  idea  was  taught  as  a  truth,  the  bowels  were 
exultingly  referred  to  as  the  real  seat  of  compassion!  Both 
theories  were  found  to  be  erroneous ;  but  the  mistake  had  been 
so  long  and  extensively  propagated  in  poetical  fictions,  in  the 
language  of  all  nations,  the  heart  and  bowels  have  been  per- 
mitted to  keep  possession  of  those  two  attributes,  and  we  con- 
tinue to  appeal  to  the  deep  feelings  of  the  heart,  and  the 
yearnings  of  the  bowels. 

Women  are  not  quite  so  much  prone  to  the  development  of 
diseases  of  the  heart  as  men,  because  they  are  generally  less 
exposed  to  violent  turmoils  which  wreck  the  constitution. 
They,  happily,  are  removed  from  arenas  of  political  strife,  and 
from  dissipations  that  make  the  blood  boil.  They  never  haunt 
drinking-saloons,  those  plague-spots  of  a  city,  nor  carouse 
through  the  night  in  boisterous  hilarity.  They  cannot,  how- 
ever, bear  up  under  assaults  upon  their  reputation,  nor  heroically 
defy  slanders,  without  reeling  under  their  crushing  weight. 
Innate  pride,  the  strong  power  of  innocence  and  a  conscious- 
ness of  doing  no  wrong,  sustains  them  awhile  under  such 
assaults,  but  they  give  way  at  last.  They  have  dropped  dead 
from  a  sense  of  injustice. 

But  women  oftener  rupture  the  heart  by  a  paroxysm  of 
dreadful  rage,  than  from  other  causes.  They  have  a  safety- 
valve  in  a  copious  flood  of  tears.  Under  excitements  that 
would  explode  life  in  some  men,  a  woman  is  instantly  relieved 
when  the  tears  flow.  They  take  off  the  tension. 

When  the  brain  is  once  charged  with  blood,  by  an  in- 
creased action  of  the  heart,  by  reason  of  exasperation,  carried 
in  faster  than  it  is  carried  away  by  veins,  an  apoplexy 
would  probably  follow,  were  it  not  for  immediate  relief 
in  a  hearty  cry. 

Men  breast  a  storm  of  passion  better  than  women,  but  there 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  193 

is  no  merit  in  it.  ^They  oppose  whirlwinds  with  whirlwinds, 
and  yield  at  last  at  the  sight  of  a  woman's  tears. 

Death  from  ossification  of  the  valves  or  coronary  arteries, 
those  which  immediately  supply  the  heart  for  its  own  support, 
together  with  sudden  paralysis,  are  far  more  frequent  among 
men  than  women.  Those  maladies  are  on  the  increase.  Mer- 
chants, bankers,  speculators,  and  radical  political  leaders,  who 
meet  with  damaging  rebuffs  just  as  they  are  expecting  to  win 
the  prize,  are  those  who  fall  suddenly  dead. 

Women  have  hearts  preternaturally  enlarged.  They  also 
are  predisposed  to  have  accumulations  of  fat  around  the  organ, 
that  impede  its  motions  and  mechanical  regularity.  Enlarged 
hearts  may  result  from  other  causes,  among  which  is  excessive 
grief. 

Disappointments,  in  which  the  affections  are  deeply  involved, 
may  be  a  cause  of  diminished  vitality. 

Dropsical  effusions  are  apt  to  follow  that  state,  accompanied 
by  functional  derangements. 

An  intermitting  pulse,  with  an  occasional  twinge  in  the 
region  of  the  heart,  indicates,  generally,  in  women,  nervous 
debility,  which  may  be  aggravated  by  mental  excitements  or 
continued  apprehensions  of  a  calamity. 

The  reticence  of  women,  their  secretiveness,  and  the  tenacity 
with  which  they  conceal  the  causes  of  their  unhappiness,  when 
their  pride  is  wounded  or  their  preference  slighted,  obliges  a 
physician  to  guess  at  causes  very  frequently.  His  prescriptions, 
under  such  circumstances,  are  random  shots  in  the  dark : 

"Earth  hath  no  rage  like  love  to  hatred  turned, 
Or  hell  a  fury  like  a  woman  spurned." 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

THEIR  LUXGS. 

Hereditary  Consumption — Ventilation — Tobacco — Origin  of  Pulmonary 
Consumption — Not  safe  to  doctor  one's  self — Gymnastic  Exercises — 
Changing  Location — Contracted  Chests — Resuscitation — What  to  Do  and 
what  to  Avoid — Violation  of  General  Laws  of  Health — Pleurisy  Sus- 
pended— Not  Cured. 

WOMEN,  oftener  than  men,  do  violence  to  their  lungs.  It 
may  not  be  agreeable  to  be  told  they  are  habitually  abusing 
those  very  essential  organs. 

It  is  a  melancholy  reflection  that  the  progress  of  pulmonary 
consumption  in  this  beautiful  country  is  largely  due  to  a  vice  in 
dress,  which  interferes  with  the  development  of  the  chest. 

A  residence  in  a  crowded  city,  .or,  indeed,  wherever  there  is 
a  dense  population,  is  attended  with  some  degree  of  peril  in 
respect  to  the  purity  of  the  air.  If  it  is  mixed,  and  charged 
with  noxious  vapors,  or  there  is  a  deficiency  of  oxygen,  ani- 
mals breathing  it  cannot  be  in  the  good  condition  they  would 
be  in,  in  localities  where  no  such  vile  elements  were  inhaled. 

Consumption  is  alarmingly  hereditary.  Sporadic  cases  are 
also  increasing,  induced  by  causes  which  might  be  avoided  to 
some  satisfactory  extent,  if  the  demands  of  fashion  were  not 
so  extremely  arbitrary. 

A  sense  of  smell  warns  us  of  the  bad  quality  of  air  in  the 
vicinity  of  certain  manufacturing  establishments,  such  as  gas- 
works ;  bone-boiling  nuisances ;  slaughter-houses ;  putrefying 
carcases ;  decomposing  vegetables,  or  other  sources  of  impurity 
that  would  be  injurious  if  inhaled. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  195 

Our  olfactory  nerves  are  special  sentinels,  promptly  announc- 
ing sources  of  offence,  and  giving  timely  warning  that  they  may 
be  avoided. 

HEREDITAEY  CONSUMPTION. 

Hereditary  consumption  is  a  hopeless  form  of  that  dreadful 
malady.  Those  influences,  or  agencies  which  bring  on  inflam- 
mation of  the  lungs,  are  comparatively  few,  compared  with  the 
annual  devastation  of  human  life  from  transmitted  sources, 
propagated  in  families  from  one  generation  to  another. 

No  sensible  physician  admits  that  pulmonary  consumption 
is  either  infectious  or  contagious ;  while  those  knowing  the 
least  about  the  laws  of  disease  firmly  believe,  as  in  Cuba,  that 
it  may  actually  be  communicated  by  a  touch  of  the  furniture, 
or  air  of  an  apartment  in  which  a  patient  with  that  disease  has 
died.  Hence,  a  theory  sometimes  assumes  the  dignity  of  a  fact, 
and  ignorance  is  better  received  as  authority  than  scientific  in- 
telligence. 

Medical  authors  assume  it  to  be  a  firmly  established  opin- 
ion, that  pulmonary  consumption  is  a  concomitant  of  modern 
civilization.  While  our  ancestors,  in  the  United  States,  occu- 
pied ruder  dwellings,  through  which  the  air  traversed  freely, 
and  they  subsisted  on  plainer  and  coarser  food,  consumption 
was  rare.  With  the  advent  of  warm  houses,  coal  furnaces, 
heated  apartments,  luxurious  tables,  and  a  tainted  atmosphere, 
made  so  by  imperfect  ventilation,  increase  of  population,  domes- 
ticated animals,  and  manufactories  of  every  imaginable  de- 
scription, the  death  rate  has  increased  to  an  appalling  degree. 

Proofs  are  not  wanting  to  show,  also,  that  modes  of  dress- 
ing, imperfectly  adapted  to  the  varying  temperature  of  the 
climate,  is  another  prolific  and  very  certain  source  of  lung 
difficulties  in  females,  which  terminate  in  the  ulceration  and 


196  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

destruction  of  those  organs.  Indian  habits  at  the  West  furnish 
abundant  materials  for  determining  many  propositions  respect- 
ing the  development  of  thoracic  diseases. 

Those  who  are  surrounded  by  domestic  comforts,  protected 
from  atmospheric  humidities,  or  chilling  blasts ;  who  sleep  in 
properly  ventilated  apartments,  and  are  warmly  clad  at  seasons 
when  the  weather  demands  special  attention  that  perspiration 
shall  neither  be  excessive,  nor  suddenly  checked  by  exposure,  are 
also  subject  to  the  same  class  of  pectoral  inflammations  as 
those  who  repose  on  the  ground  in  the  smoke  of  a  wig- 
wam. 

The  diet  of  the  Indian  is  mostly  animal,  and  simple  enough 
as  far  as  it  goes  to  meet  the  approval  of  an  exacting  stickler 
for  plain  food ;  and  yet  they  die  frequently  of  pulmonary 
consumption. 

Dr.  Bush  assured  his  readers  it  was  unknown  to  the  aborigi- 
nes of  this  country.  He  was  eminent  in  his  day ;  but  more 
extended  intercourse  with  tribes  all  through  the  interior  of  the 
continent  since  that  distinguished  author  passed  away,  demon- 
strates the  existence,  and  the  melancholy  ravages,  too,  of  that 
plague  among  savages,  quite  as  severe  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  as  where  the  resources  of  civilization  are  un- 
limited. 

PREVALENCE  AMONG  SAVAGES. 

Red  Jacket,  the  famous  chief,  whose  name  is  interwoven 
in  the  web  of  modern  American  history  as  a  wild  man  of  extra- 
ordinary intelligence  and  political  sagacity,  assured  a  Buffalo 
physician  about  the  year  1823,  that  no  less  than  seventeen  fatal 
cases  of  consumption  had  occurred  in  his  own  family,  including 
ten  of  his  children. 

Other  memoranda  of  a  similar  import  might  be  given,  con- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  197 

clusively  establishing  the  fact  that  the  disease  has  always  been 
regarded  by  the  Indians  as  incurable. 

The  reason  why  it  is  incurable,  in  its  advanced  stages,  is 
because  there  has  been  a  destruction  of  portions  of  organs, 
without  which  life  cannot  be  sustained. 

Aboriginal  habits,  customs,  privations,  and  their  brave 
darings  in  the  chase,  in  war,  and  their  ardor  in  feats  of  strength, 
must  expose  them  to  severe  colds  when  heated  or  in  a  glow 
of  perspiration.  Lying  down  on  the  damp  ground  to  sleep ; 
wading  through  jungles,  and  shaded  from  the  life-giving  prop- 
erties of  sunlight  by  wide-spreading  branches  of  trees  in  those 
forests  where  they  prefer  to  roam,  must  lower  their  vital  tem- 
perature and  predispose  them  to  the  development  of  many 
painful  and  fatal  maladies. 

Sporadic  pulmonary  consumption,  therefore,  on  reflection, 
seems  to  be  most  frequent  with  the  Indians ;  while  hereditary 
forms  of  it  predominate  in  civilized  society. 

VENTILATION. 

Apartments  may  be  satisfactorily  ventilated  by  the  latest 
patented  contrivance,  without  essentially  modifying  the  condi- 
tion of  the  air  in  them,  if  it  is  laden  with  the  products  of  low 
lands,  noxious  gases,  or  the  putrid  decomposition  of  animal 
remains.  There  is  room  for  improvement  in  the  management 
of  wool  and  cotton  mills,  dye-houses,  and  gas  works,  so  that 
they  shall  not  interfere  with  the  health  of  operatives. 

Where  large  numbers  of  females  are  employed,  further 
efforts  should  be  made  for  giving  them  pure  air  for  respiration. 

In  manufacturing  establishments,  especially  in  those  where 
several  hundred  women  are  congregated,  the  messengers  of 
death  soon  approach  them  in  all  imaginary  forms,  if  ventilation 


198  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

is  neglected.     Females  thus  associated  suffer  more  than  men 
placed  under  similar  circumstances. 

Private  residences,  school-rooms,  basement  apartments,  and 
stables  are  too  much  neglected  in  respect  to  fresh  air.  Where 
windows  are  not  frequently  opened  and  fresh  currents  allowed 
to  displace  those  accumulations  of  dust,  invisible  spores  of 
minute  vegetations  accumulate  in  an  undisturbed  atmosphere. 
Eggs  of  insects  and  impurities  of  various  kinds  destructive  to 
health,  generate  also  numerous  diseases.  In  such  conditions  of 
air  we  oftentimes  breathe,  without  being  conscious  of  the  exist- 
ence of  such  subtle  agencies.  A  lodgment  of  these  microscopic 
irritants  in  the  lungs  are  met  by  nature^  only  means  of  de- 
fence,— an  extra  secretion  and  pouring  out  of  a  fluid  from  a 
mucous  surface  to  wash  away  offensive  irritants. 

TOBACCO  AN  OFFENCE  TO  THE  SALIVARY  GLANDS. 

On  that  principle  tobacco  is  an  unwelcome  injurious  ex- 
citant, and  the  salivary  glands  pour  out  an  immense  amount  of 
saliva  to  float  off  the  obnoxious  quid.  When  the  effort  is  first 
commenced  to  chew  or  smoke,  the  quantity  of  saliva  is  more 
copious  than  after  the  individual  has  schooled  his  salivary 
apparatus  to  bear  the  presence  of  a  terrible  narcotic  with  some 
degree  of  acquiescence ;  but  the  glands  never,  at  the  end  of  fifty 
years,  cease  to  manifest  a  dislike  to  tobacco  in  any  form,  by  an 
increased  activity  of  all  the  buccal  and  sublingual  secretory 
organs  at  the  instant  it  is  introduced  into  the  mouth. 

Both  smokers  and  chewers  are  constantly  expectorating  and 
spitting,  to  the  disgust  of  those  in  their  company,  and  certainly 
to  the  manifest  injury  of  themselves. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  199 

A  COMMON  ORIGIN  OF  PULMONARY  IRRITATION. 

In  consequence  of  the  lodgment  of  tiny  particles  of  matter 
in  the  lungs,  they  produce  a  very  slight  irritation  at  first.  A 
cough,  however,  is  generally  sure  to  follow,  and  that  is  simply 
a  mechanical  effort  to  throw  off  the  irritant. 

If  the  adhering  atoms  cannot  be  removed  by  a  spasmodic 
blast  of  air  from  the  lungs,  then  the  next  effort  to  overcome  its 
offensive  presence  is  by  pouring  out  a  large  amount  of  adhesive 
mucus  to  entangle  them,  as  it  were,  affording  a  better  chance 
of  expelling  the  intruders  by  acting  on  a  larger  mass.  Thus 
there  is  a  hacking  expectoration. 

Thus  a  settled  cough  may  be  produced.  By  constant  repe- 
titions, convulsive  throes  actually  lacerate  the  air-cells,  and 
ultimately  involve  the  whole  respiratory  organs  in  disease. 

When  lesions  become  extensive,  and  one  air-cell  is  ruptured, 
so  that  two,  or  three,  or  dozens  become  one  cavity,  the  thick 
mucus  collects  in  such  quantity,  besides  being  exceedingly  tena- 
cious, that  a  cough  cannot  raise  it.  The  collection  finally  dis- 
tends those  delicate  receptacles,  more  and  more  deranging  con- 
tiguous cells, — and  that  is  the  formation  of  a  pulmonary  abscess. 

By  its  weight  and  purulent  character,  respiration  becomes 
not  only  painful,  but  hardly  surface  enough  remains  in  the 
contiguous  respiratory  cells  to  oxygenate  the  blood  sent  to 
them  to  be  vitalized. 

This  is  the  last  and  hopeless  state  of  pulmonary  consump- 
tion.* 


*  It  is  a  well-recognized  fact  that  the  colder  the  climate,  the  higher  the 
latitude,  and  the  drier  the  atmosphere,  the  less  liable  the  inhabitants  are  to 
suffer  from  consumption.  In  Iceland,  from  1727  to  1837,  there  was  not  a  single 
case,  and  Sir  R.  Parry,  in  his  history  of  his  northern  explorations,  noticed  the 
rarity  of  throat  and  lung  affections  among  the  inhabitants  of  Greenland  and 
Labrador. 


200 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 


It  is  not  the  object  of  this  publication  to  provide  a  guide  for 
the  practice  of  medicine,  nor  attempt  to  persuade  those  who 
may  honor  it  with  a  reading,  that  they  can  prescribe  for  them- 
selves when  sick. 


In  the  two  British  stations  of  the  Mediterranean,  Gibraltar  and  Malta, 
long  known  as  favorite  resorts  for  the  consumptive,  we  find  the  disease  to  be 
actually  more  prevalent  than  in  Canada,  with  its  long  cold  winter. 

In  Canada,  six  men  per  thousand  of  the  British  army  are  attacked  by,  and 
half  that  number  die  of  consumption. 

In  Malta  there  are  nine  per  thousand  attacked,  and  four  per  thousand  die 
of  the  disease.  In  Gibraltar  the  number  attacked  is  seven,  and  the  number 
of  deaths  three  per  thousand  men. 

In  the  Bermudas,  where  the  climate  is  uniform,  eight  men  per  thousand 
become  -consumptive,  and  five  of  that  number  die.  But  in  Newfoundland, 
the  mortality  from  this  disease  is  but  four  in  ten  hundred. 

In  tropical  countries,  the  progress  of  consumption  is  more  rapid  than 
where  the  climate  is  temperate.  Deaths  from  this  ailment  are  more  numer- 
ous in  Brazil  than  in  Russia.  Owing  to  the  extent  of  territory,  and  the 
different  latitudes  and  climates  embraced  in  the  United  States,  there  is,  as 
might  be  supposed,  a  corresponding  variation  in  the  prevalence  of  consump- 
tion. We  find  the  mortality  from  this  malady  to  be  greater  in  the  New 
England  States  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Union. 

The  death  rate  by  consumption  in  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union 
is  shown  in  the  following  table  : 


Alabama  

1 

death 

in 

25 

1 

death  in 

18 

Arkansas  

1 

death 

in 

22 

Missouri  

1 

death  in 

96 

California     

1 

death 

in 

100 

New  Hampshire  .  .  . 

1 

death  in 

4 

Columbia  District 

1 

death 

in 

6 

New  Jersey  

1 

death  in 

iy 

Connecticut 

1 

death 

in 

5 

New  Mexico  

1 

death  in 

79 

Delaware 

1 

death 

in 

10 

New  York     

1 

death  in 

fi 

Florida  

1 

death 

in 

21 

North  Carolina.  .  . 

1 

death  in 

18 

1 

death 

in 

35 

Ohio  

1 

death  in 

11 

1 

death 

in 

13 

Oregon  

1 

death  in 

q 

Indiana 

1 

death 

in 

11 

Pennsylvania 

1 

death  in 

8 

Iowa  

1 

death 

in 

11 

Rhode  Island  

1 

death  in 

4 

Kentucky  

..  .1 

death 

ill 

11 

South  Carolina  .  .  . 

1 

death  in 

30 

Louisiana     

.     l 

death 

in 

13 

1 

death  in 

13 

Maine 

1 

death 

in 

6 

Texas  

1 

death  in 

87 

Maryland  

1 

death 

in 

8 

Utah  

1 

death  in 

?,0 

Massachusetts  

1 

death 

in 

5 

Virginia  

1 

death  in 

11 

Michigan  

1 

death 

in 

6 

1 

death  in 

4 

Minnesota.  .  . 

1 

death 

in 

29 

Wisconsin.  . 

1 

death  in 

10 

The  small  proportion  of  mortality  from  consumption  in  California  was 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 


NOT  SAFE  TO  DOCTOR  ONE'S  SELF. 

It  is  a  maxim  with  lawyers,  that  he  who  pleads  his  own 
case  has  a  fool  for  a  client.  Those  who  expect  to  he  their  own 
physicians,  on  the  self-complacent  notion  that  they  understand 
their  own  constitution  better  than  those  who  have  been  labo- 
riously studying  the  morbid  conditions  to  which  humanity  is 
incident,  make  a  mistake  which  cannot  be  readily  rectified. 

To  show  how  incipient  forms  of  disease  may  be  avoided,  as 
well  as  caused,  with  plain  suggestions  respecting  the  mainten- 
ance of  health,  is  of  more  importance  to  non-professional 
readers  than  a  volume  of  recipes. 


MEDICAL  IMPOSITIONS. 

Beware  of  medical  impostors.  This  country  is  an  active 
theatre  for  the  display  of  their  peculiar  talents.  It  is  a  profit- 
able specialty  to  trade  in  advertised  falsely-called  remedies  for 
consumption. 

By  baiting  the  trap,  as  a  hunter  would  say,  which  is  nothing 
less  than  encouraging  a  forlorn  hope,  those  who  have  sought 
relief  without  finding  it,  purchase  liberally  and  pay  dearly  for 
stun0  that  cannot  accomplish  cures  when  the  substance  of  the 
lungs,  or  portions  of  them,  are  actually  destroyed. 


accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  greater  part  of  the  population  was  com- 
posed of  miners  and  emigrants  from  other  parts,  who  were  over  25  years  of 
age,  and  not  so  liable  to  its  attacks.  More  recent  statistics  have  confirmed 
the  assertion,  that  consumption  is  much  more  prevalent  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
than  in  California. 

Daily  variation  in  the  temperature  is  believed  to  be  the  great  cause  of  the 
excess  of  mortality  in  the  Eastern  States. 

In  proportion  to  the  population,  the  number  afflicted  by  this  "  destroyer 
of  mankind,"  is  frequently  greater  in  small  cities  than  in  large  ones. 


202  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Treat  with  contempt  advertised  certificates  constructed  for 
encouraging  hopes  that  never  can  be  realized.  Shun  consump- 
tion doctors  as  you  would  seventh  sons,  clairvoyant  seventh 
daughters,  pickpockets,  and  professed  swindlers. 

Indian  doctors  !  those  hypocrites  and  ignoramuses  who  an- 
nounce themselves  as  having  been  taught  by  savages  to  do 
what  men  of  science  cannot  do,  is  an  absurdity.  No  person  of 
common  intelligence  believes  one  person  can  see  further  into 
a  millstone  than  another. 

If  those  who  have  studied  the  minute  anatomy  of  the  body, 
and  have  watched  the  operation  of  drugs  in  every  possible 
phase  in  great  hospitals,  under  the  critical  instruction  of  dis- 
tinguished clinical  professors,  cannot  arrest  the  destructive 
march  of  pulmonary  consumption,  is  there  any  good  reason  for 
supposing  that  ignorant,  vulgar  pretenders,  half  of  whom  can 
neither  read,  speak,  nor  write  their  mother-tongue  grammati- 
cally, possess  knowledge  superior  to  such  as  are  educated  under 
all  the  advantages  of  the  age  ? 

There  are  consumption  curers  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
mechanical  structure  of  the  lungs,  as  they  are  of  other  viscera 
in  the  cavities  of  the  body,  who  seem  to  magnetize  those  falling 
within  the  sphere  of  their  operations,  so  that  some  very  sensible 
people  become  their  victims. 

Consumption  is  an  exhaustless  theme.  Weak  lungs  or 
strong  lungs  are  subjects  for  discussion  when  no  such  expres- 
sions are  scientifically  allowable.  Susceptibility  to  certain 
influences  as  sources  of  irritation  to  those  delicate  organs,  is 
what  is  to  be  understood,  and  not  that  in  the  sense  of  a  strong 
muscle,  or  a  strong  rope,  or  a  strong  beam,  are  they  to  be  re- 
presented. 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  203 

CONTRACTED  CHESTS. 

Women,  far  more  commonly  than  men,  have  contracted 
chests,  which  mechanically  prevent  a  full  inflation  of  the 
lungs  to  the  extent  .they  would  be  filled  in  a  chest  of  larger 
capacity. 

When  air  is  simply  inhaled,  there  is  taken  from  it  oxygen, 
— an  element  that  sustains  life.  That  being  accomplished,  the 
waiting  air,  thus  deprived  of  one  of  its  constituents,  is  forced 
out  through  the  same  tubular  passage  by  which  it  was  drawn 
in,  carrying  with  it  carbonic  acid  gas. 

Such  is  the  process  and  the  object  of  breathing.  By  respira- 
tion, blood  meets  air  in  the  lungs,  where  the  exchange  is  made 
of  something  that  cannot  be  safely  retained,  for  that  which 
maintains  life. 

Carbonic  acid  gas  is  taken  up  largely  by  growing  vegeta- 
tion, which  they  exchange  for  oxygen,  that  supports  animal 
life. 

With  the  cessation  of  respiration,  the  pulsations  of  the 
heart  gradually  terminate,  and  then  unconsciousness  follows. 
In  drowning,  those  phenomena  succeed  each  other  in  rapid 
succession. 

KESUSCITATIOK". 

Left  thus,  an  individual  is  popularly  considered  dead. 
But  if  quickly  taken  from  the  water,  when  all  the  functions  of 
life  are  apparently  forever  ended — the  heart  no  longer  beating, 
the  lungs  collapsed,  and  consciousness  gone — vitality  may  be 
recalled  by  persistent  efforts. 

Artificial  inflation,  the  application  of  warmth,  and  the 
pursuance  of  directions  extensively  disseminated  by  humane 
societies,  for  the  express  purpose  of  informing  people  how  to 


204  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

proceed  for  the  recovery  of  drowned  persons,  often  recall  the 
apparently-dead  to  life  again. 

Such  restorations  are  splendid  triumphs  of  science.  Alter- 
nately filling  and  pressing  out  the  air  from  the  lungs,  by  work- 
ing the  intercostal  muscles,  enlarges  first  the  pleural  cavity, 
then  it  is  as  suddenly  diminished  by  the  expulsion  of  the  air, 
imitating  natural  respiration. 

The  air-cells  are  thus  expanded  to  their  full  capacity.  By 
continuing  the  process  perseveringly  awhile,  the  blood  begins 
to  absorb  oxygen.  As  soon  as  that  takes  place,  the  heart  feels 
the  stimulus  and  contracts. 

Through  the  agency  of  muscles  thus  manipulated,  a  reflex 
power  is  transmitted  to  both  heart* and  lungs,  and  they  then 
continue  to  act  without  assistance.  The  soul  is  recalled. 

Where  was  the  soul  during  suspended  animation  ?  Whence 
came  it,  by  carrying  on  this  mechanical  effort,  to  bring  the  dead 
to  life  again  ? 

VALUE  OF  GYMKASTIC  EXERCISES. 

Reasonable  gymnastic  exercises  are  exceedingly  serviceable. 
The  inner  capacity  of  the  chest  may  be  very  considerably  en- 
larged by  systematic  exercise  of  the  exterior  pectoral  muscles. 
The  further  an  individual  advances  in  age,  the  more  difficult  it 
is  to  overcome  rigidity,  or  spread  bones  held  closely  by  inelastic 
ligaments. 

By  commencing  seasonably^  before  that  condition  is  estab- 
lished, the  conformation  of  the  thorax  or  chest,  which  may  be 
too  narrow  and  too  flat  for  a  full  development-  of  the  lungs, 
may  be  very  considerably  expanded.  Robustness  and  vigor 
may  be  attained,  of  the  highest  importance  in  regard  to  health 
and  longevity,  by  simply  compelling  motor  cords  and  strap-like 
tissues  to  pull  back,  out  of  the  way  of  the  swelling  lungs,  those 


THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN.  205 

too  much  incurvated  ribs  that  prevent  a  full  inhalation  of  air 
for  filling  the  air-cells. 

Ladders,  inclined  planes,  swinging  at  arm's  length  in  slings, 
climbing  suspended  ropes,  pitching  quoits,  driving  a  ball,  or 
following  out  the  directions  of  acknowledged  experts  and 
public  benefactors,  who  teach  hygienic  laws,  to  the  saving  of 
thousands  of  valuable  lives  that  otherwise  would  long  since 
have  been  entombed,  had  it  not  been  for  their  valuable  lessons, 
—is  far  more  agreeable  than  emetics,  blisters,  tonic  tinctures,  or 
other  products  of  a  drug-store. 

When  lesions  exist,  there  may  be  hemorrhages,  or  a  ten- 
dency to  expectoration  of  blood  from  a  continued  inflammation 
of  the  lining  membrane  of  the  bronchial  tubes,  indicating  a 
condition  that  forbids  gymnastic  exercises.  It  is  then  best  for 
a  person  thus  circumstanced,  with  graver  symptoms  to  be  appre- 
hended, to  change  location. 

CHANGING  LOCATION. 

Avoid  medicines,  then,  which  are  not  decidely  tonic,  it  being 
impossible  to  bear  up  under  the  action  of  drugs  which  have  a 
sedative  influence,  or  those  which,  like  active  cathartics,  sud- 
denly reduce  the  vital  force. 

In  making  a  removal,  it  is  essential  to  seek  a  residence 
where  the  atmosphere  is  dry.  Humidity  is  the  bane  of  con- 
sumptives. 

Sleeping  over  stables,  with  an  expectation  that  evaporating 
filth  from  fermenting  manure  will  heal  ulcerated  lungs,  or 
strengthen  feeble  tissues  in  air-cells,  is  quite  as  unphilosophical 
as  a  residence  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  for  the  same  purpose. 

St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  has  a  reputation  for  being  a  hopeful 
temporary  abode  for  consumptives,  provided  the  patient  is 


206  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

prompt  in  going  there  before  the  disease  has  made  that  destruc- 
tive progress  which  a  change  of  climate  cannot  arrest. 

It  has  been  questioned  by  some  medical  men  whether  St. 
Paul  really  does  work  the  change  which  has  been  claimed  for  it, 
as  a  resource  for  consumptives.  Possibly  the  journey  from  any 
considerable  distance  contributes  more  directly  to  their  benefit 
than  may  have  occurred  to  those  who  warmly  recommend  a 
dry,  elevated  position. 

Florida,  also,  has  its  advocates  for  the  same  class  of  invalids. 
Many  have  been  exceedingly  benefited  by  a  residence  of  a  few 
months  there.  Avoiding  the  harsh,  cold,  damp  winds  and 
easterly  wreather,  of  New  England  particularly,  when  the  in- 
clement winter  of  the  Atlantic  shores  sets  in,  by  escaping  to 
the  mild  regions  of  the  South,  must  certainly  afford  relief  to 
diseased  lungs,  and  give  the  general  system  some  chance  for 
recuperation  from  that  extreme  debility  which  follows  in  the 
train  of  a  protracted  cough. 

Two  miles  from  the  mouth  of  that  celebrated  cave  just  re- 
ferred to,  remains  of  huts  may  still  be  seen,  roofless  of  course, 
where  numbers  of  emaciated  strangers  in  all  stages  of  consump- 
tion resided  in  thick  darkness,  if  their  lamps  happened  to 
go  out. 

Constant  coughing  and  the  repeating  echoes  of  those  sepul- 
chral sounds  that  were  forerunners  of  approaching  dissolution, 
together  with  smoke,  which  were  as  unendurable  as  their  in- 
dividual pains,  soon  destroyed  the  romance  or  hallucination, 
whichever  it  may  have  been,  and  those  who  survived  those 
isolated  trials  in  search  of  health  in  the  gloomy  bowels  of  the 
earth,  were  glad  to  return  to  their  inviting  homes. 

The  theory  which  influenced  consumptives  to  wend  their 
way  to  the  great  Kentucky  cave,  was  that  the  saltpetred  at- 
mosphere in  the  interior  was  a  remedy  for  ulcerated  lungs. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  207 

Pulmonary  consumption  is  everywhere.  It  is  quite  as  well 
to  remain  at  home,  under  certain  forms  of  the  malady,  as  to 
seek  relief  in  other  latitudes. 

The  little  that  may  be  temporarily  gained  by  long  and  ex- 
pensive journeys  to  some  imagined  place  of  restoration,  is  not 
a  compensation  for  deprivations  of  society,  and  those  friends 
and  associations,  devoted  relatives  and  sympathizing  acquaint- 
ances, medical  attendants  and  familiar  scenery,  which  are  en- 
hanced in  value  the  farther  we  are  removed  from  them. 


WHAT  TO  Do  AND  WHAT  TO  AVOID. 

Horseback  exercise ;  all  forms  of  gymnastic  feats  which 
give  a  wide  range  of  play  to  the  pectoral  muscles,  together 
with  a  generous  diet,  are  always  first  to  be  tried  in  incipient 
forms  of  this  particular  disease. 

Avoiding  a  free  out-door  exposure  when  the  weather  is  clear 
and  dry,  is  a  mistake.  Humidity,  heavy  dews,  rain  and  cold, 
give  activity  to  those  processes  of  derangement  in  the  lungs 
which  hasten  a  fatal  termination  of  life.  Therefore  it  is  im- 
portant to  sleep  warmly  protected,  while  there  is  a  free  circu- 
lation, or,  at  least,  a  free  admission  of  air  into  the  apartment, 
without  fear  of  inhaling  dangerous  elements  from  that  source. 

Eating  whatever  relishes  is  not  to  be  overlooked  in  a  desire  to 
tako  advantage  of  all  available  circumstances  for  promoting  the 
comfort  of  a  consumptive.  There  should  be  no  restrictions  in 
regard  to  food.  The  appetite  is  exceedingly  capricious,  there- 
fore whatever  is  coveted  may  be  taken  with  impunity.  If  oily 
food,  butter,  cream,  fat  meats,  etc.,  agree  with  the  individual, 
the  more  freely  they  are  taken  the  better. 

Systematically,  that  is,  at  regular  periods,  at  suitable  inter- 
vals, take  cod-liver  oil.  Its  value  has  not  been  overrated.  For 


208  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

a  time  there  was  danger  of  its  utility  being  undervalued  in 
consequence  of  the  general  repugnance  of  patients  to  taking  it 
on  account  of  the  disagreeable  fishy  smell,  and  the  nausea  in- 
duced by  it  in  some  irritable  stomachs. 

Happily  for  the  reputation  of  modern  pharmacy,  cod-liver 
oil  is  now  so  admirably  prepared,  its  objectionable  taste  is 
overcome,  so  that  it  may  be  taken  without  hesitancy, — all  its 
unpleasant  taste  and  odor  being  taken  away  without  impairing 
its  medicinal  properties. 

Cod-liver  oil  is  not  considered  medicine,  in  the  common  ac- 
ceptation of  that  term,  but  nutritious  animal  food  that  furnishes 
materials  for  repairing  a  wasted  form. 

Abstain  from  whiskey  and  similar  heating  stimulants. 
Physicians  who  have  urged  such  treatment  have  done  the 
country  an  irreparable  wrong. 

Unintentionally,  they  have  made  drunkards,  by  developing 
a  morbid  inclination  for  ardent '  spirits,  which  cannot  always 
be  overcome,  when  the  discovery  is  made  that  the  remedy  is  as 
bad  as,  if  not  worse  than,  the  disease  for  which  it  was  pre- 
scribed. 

One  of  the  simplest  precautions  for  preventing  inflamma- 
tory attacks  of  the  lungs,  is  to  be  shod  and  clothed  suitably. 
Ladies,  particularly,  invite  death's  doings,  by  being  in  extremely 
thin  shoes,  and  light  dresses  that  conduct  off  the  caloric  of  the 
body,  which  should  be  retained  by  non-conducting  clothing, 
when  they  find  themselves  threatened  with  a  cough. 

Thinly  dressed,  with  the  chest  half  exposed  to  direct  blasts 
of  cold  air ;  standing  at  open  windows  in  a  current,  or  sitting 
out-door  in  a  damp  atmosphere,  leaving  a  warm  room  for  a 
cold  one ;  dancing  till  heated  by  exercise,  and  then  stepping 
into  a  carriage  in  a  glow  of  perspiration,  half  protected  by  a 
silk  cloak,  a  thousand  dollar  gossamer  shawl,  instead  of  a  wool- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  209 

len  blanket,  are  so  many  ways  of  inviting  conditions  of  health 
which  no  medical  skill  is  competent  to  manage. 

The  mucous  passages,  especially  those  leading  to  the  lungs, 
are  the  first  to  suffer  under  such  courses  of  imprudence.  The 
lungs  become  engorged  with  blood  when  the  lining  membrane 
is  flushed  with  a  commencing  inflammation,  which  rarely  fails 
to  be  accompanied  by  a  hectic  cough. 


VIOLATION  OF  GEXEKAL  LAWS  OF  HEALTH. 

Happily,  women  are  beginning  to  discover  the  dangers  that 
surround  them,  in  conforming  to  the  wild  caprices  of  fashions. 
Those  who  escape  pulmonary  consumption  by  their  violation 
of  sanitary  laws,  are  frequent  sufferers  from  pleurisy,  usually 
originating  in  the  same  kind  of  imprudence  which  generates 
other  formidable  evils. 

PLEUKISY. 

Instead  of  being  confined  to  the  lining  membrane  of  the 
cells  within  the  lobes  of  the  lungs,  pleurisy  means  an  inflamma- 
tion of  the  pleura,  or  living  membrane  of  the  chest  in  which 
the  lungs  play. 

Whenever  the  inflammation  becomes  acutely  painful  in 
pleurisy,  the  attempted  full  inflation  of  the  lungs  must  neces- 
sarily press  against  the  inflamed  surface.  A  stitch  in  the  side, 
a  common  expression,  simply  means  that  the  outside  covering 
of  the  lungs  has  become  attached  or  glued,  as  it  were,  to  the 
membrane  next  the  ribs — and  the  stitch  is  but  tearing  them 
apart — or  rather,  bridles  of  adhesive  serous  fluid,  put  upon  the 
stretch,  cause  that  acute  sensation,  a  pain  always  attended 
with  danger. 


210  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Instead  of  patronizing  shoes,  the  soles  of  which  are  scarcely 
thicker  than  paper,  it  is  quite  as  proper  for  females  to  wear 
them  of  sufficient  thickness,  as  for  men. 

When  the  feet  are  cold  and  kept  so  for  hours,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  waste  of  warmth  through  thin  soles,  the  circu- 
lation of  blood  in  minute  vessels  at  such  a  distance  from  the 
heart,  is  partially  interrupted.  That  cannot  be  habitually 
practised  without  deranging  the  general  circulation.  Swelled 
feet  are  the  result  of  cold  and  compression. 

The  torture  of  tight  shoes  does  not  wholly  consist  in  the 
development  of  corns  and  bunions,  but  in  the  production  of 
conditions  in  the  mechanism  of  the  circulation  that  may  de- 
generate into  actual  organic  lesions. 

Ladies  should  have  their  feet  and  ankles  as  completely  pro- 
tected as  men  wTho  would  soon  be  incapacitated  for  active  pur- 
suits were  they  put  into  the  frail  shoes  and  gossamer  stockings, 
which  are  the  pride  of  a  well-dressed  woman. 

SUSPENDED,  NOT  CURED. 

Hereditary  consumption  cannot,  with  certainty,  be  averted. 
It  may  be  suspended,  as  it  were — or  rather  kept  at  bay  by 
changing  residence  to  a  propitious  climate.  But  all  such 
measures  are  regarded  as  temporary.  Nothing  is  more  difficult 
than  to  stop  the  progress  of  a  disease  which  destroys  the  organ 
by  which  life  is  positively  sustained. 

Sporadic,  or  that  form  of  pulmonary  consumption,  in- 
duced by  carelessness  or  unfortunate  exposure  to  influences 
that  could  not,  or  would  not,  be  avoided  at  the  time,  is  to  be 
managed  differently. 

By  an  imprudent  exposure  to  cold  and  humidity,  an  impetus 
is  given  to  the  development  of  quiescent  tubercles.  They  are 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  211 

suddenly  inflamed,  and  suppurate.  In  hereditary  consumption, 
tubercles  are  actually  found  imbedded  in  the  lung  tissues  of 
new-born  infants.  They  may  remain  many  years  perfectly 
indolent,  if  those  precautions  are  taken  which  are  pointed  out 
in  the  foregoing  observations,  that  have  a  tendency  to  awaken 
them  from  a  long  slumber  into  activity. 

We  do  not  believe  hereditary  consumption  can  be  arrested 
permanently,  so  that  it  may  not  be  transmitted  to  the  children 
of  such  unfortunates.  But  it  is  quite  certain  life  may  be  con- 
siderably prolonged  by  a  judicious  reference  to  latitude  and 
longitude,  before  grave  symptoms  indicate  an  ulceration  of  the 
air-cells. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
DIGESTION. 

Digestion  and  the  Functions  of  the  Liver — Opinions  of  the  Profession — 
Disagree — Indications — Ancient  Doses — Modern  Indication — Illustrations 
— Intricate  Mechanism — Demand  for  Sugar — Diseased  Livers. 

IT  may  be  surprising  intelligence  to  those  who  importune 
physicians  as  to  what  they  should  eat  and  drink,  or  what  they 
might  take  into  their  stomachs  with  impunity,  to  assure  them 
that  medical  practitioners  are  no  better  judges  on  that  subject 
than  themselves. 

•  Because  medical  men  are  supposed  to  be  laboriously  inter- 
rogating Nature  for  information  that  may  be  of  service  to  those 
who  employ  them,  they  are  held  accountable  to  a  certain  extent 
by  a  confiding  public,  in  regard  to  the  health  of  those  who 
seek  their  advice. 

Unfortunately,  medical  Solomons  disagree  among  them- 
selves. There  is  no  standard  by  which  to  regulate  the  sanitary 
condition  of  society.  They  entertain  theories  enough  to  perplex 
all  the  universities  on  the  globe ;  but  the  facts  which  always 
have  precedence  over  speculations,  are  comparatively  few,  and 
not  much  relished  by  those  who  are  ambitious  for  establishing 
theories  as  substitutes. 

Digestion  is  a  familiar  topic,  especially  with  persons  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  their  own  organization,  and  indigestion  is 
still  less  understood  by  many  who  assume  to  be  extremely  wise. 
There  is  no  definite  system  to  be  pursued,  that  will  insure  im- 
munity from  indigestion,  by  recourse  to  drugs. 

Were  we  to  say  let  medicine  alone  entirely,  it  might  be 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  213 

thought  a  selfish  purpose  was  in  view.  Unhappily  for  those 
seeking  reliable  information  respecting  the  course  to  be  pursued 
to  insure  the  highest  standard  of  health,  medical  philosophers 
strangely  disagree,  so  that  invalids  are  perplexed,  and,  on  the 
whole,  derive  about  as  much  benefit  from  one  source  as  another. 

~No  one  set  of  stereotyped  directions  meets  every  case  of  in- 
digestion. There  are  no  specifics  for  dyspepsia.  Treatment 
that  has  been  efficacious  for  one  person,  is  of  no  service  to 
another. 

It  is  curious  to  examine  the  rules  laid  down  by  different 
doctors  in  reference  to  the  kind  of  food  that  should  be  taken, 
under  certain  conditions,  and  that  should  be  avoided,  on  the 
score  of  being  non-digestible. 

Many  of  the  wise  decisions  on  that  point  are  from  non- 
scientific  sources.  But  they  exercise  an  arbitrary  influence  over 
the  minds  of  those  who  conceive  it  necessary  to  select  a  diet 
with  express  reference  to  its  speedy,  or  rather  easy,  assimilation. 
And  yet,  gross  mistakes  are  made,  not  through  the  false  indica- 
tions of  science,  but  through  ignorance  of  the  first  principles  of 
chemical  science. 

For  example,  one  recommends  soft-boiled  eggs;  another, 
hard-boiled.  "Without  being  conscious  of  it,  our  likes  or  dis- 
likes exert  an  arbitrary  control  over  the  judgment,  and  we  think 
we  are  guided  by  scientific  principles,  when,  in  fact,  we  are 
managed  by  no  principle  at  all  in  matters  that  purely  concern 
the  stomach. 

Physicians  differ  exceedingly  on  the  worn-out  subject  of 
diet.  The  various  schools  of  medicine  have  their  hobbies,  while 
the  representatives  of  each  have  their  eccentric  advocates. 

Allopathies  charge  their  patients  as  artillery  officers  load 
cannon,  with  all  the  gun  will  bear  without  bursting ;  therefore, 
ten  grains  of  calomel,  fortified  with  ten  more  of  jalap,  the  prac- 


214:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

tice  of  twenty  years  ago  repeated,  was  the  sheet-anchor  of  the 
old-fashioned  practitioners. 

Reforming  homoeopathies  go  to  the  other  extreme.  Struck 
with  compassionate  horror  at  the  magnitude  of  incompatible 
compounds,  they  prescribe  attenuated  dilutions  of  something 
that  can  be  neither  smelt,  tasted,  nor  felt.  The  one  hundred 
and  forty-ninth  part  of  a  grain,  in  forty  gallons  of  water,  is  fear- 
fully potent,  administered  by  skilful  hands. 

Men  of  honor  have  never  agreed  in  politics.  It  would  be 
miraculous  if  there  were  no  diversity  of  opinions  in  medicine. 
Each  party  is  honestly  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  dogmas 
they  profess.  Thus,  inquiry  is  kept  alive;,  otherwise  there 
would  be  a  stagnation  of  intellect,  and  another  dark  age.  New 
and  important  truths  are  developed,  in  consequence  of  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  men  equally  honest  and  equally  desirous 
of  arriving  at  definite  conclusions. 

EVANESCENCE  OF  THEORIES. 

Theories  have  been  repeatedly  advanced  from  opposite  direc- 
tions touching  the  mooted  question  of  what  kind  of  food  is  best 
for  human  beings. 

Civilization  cannot  settle  the  question.  Savages  give  them- 
selves no  concern  about  it,  devouring  whatever  is  attainable  that 
assuages  the  demands  of  hunger. 

Notwithstanding  the  inculcations  of  physiological  scholars, 
that  certain  modes  of  living  tend  to  longevity,  while  others 
interfere  with  vital  laws,  and  abridge  the  natural  duration  of 
life, — both  savages  and  barbarians  live  as  many  years  on  the 
average,  even  less  molested  by  the  invasion  of  disease,  than 
the  most  favored  of  mortals  who  fare  sumptuously  every  day 
on  viands  that  meet  the  approval  of  the  soundest  medical 
scrutineers. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  215 

We  require  a  proper  mixture  of  animal  and  vegetable  food, 
it  being  of  little  consequence  whether  the  first  is  roast  beef, 
canvas-back  ducks,  sea  slugs,  roasted  rattlesnake,  boiled  crabs, 
shark's  fins,  dried  grasshoppers,  fish,  fowls,  or  turtle's  eggs. 

Some  of  all  these  usually  considered  disgusting,  but  largely 
consumed  articles,  actually  nourish  the  body  as  completely  as 
artistic  dishes  prepared  according  to  the  highest  gastronomic 
authority,  every  one  of  them  containing  nutritious  materials. 

Science  and  civilization  refine,  but  the  empty  stomach 
obeys  an  imperious  law, — eat  or  le  eaten, — making  no  apologies 
for  dining  on  whatever  satisfies  the  urgent  demands  of 
hunger. 

The  benefits  derived  from  animal  or  vegetable  food  are  to 
be  measured  by  the  results  in  respect  to  growth  and  repro- 
duction. 

MECHANISM  OF  THE  STOMACH. 

A  stomach  is  a  receiving  sac,  into  which  food  is  taken,  from 
which,  by  a  series  of  extraordinary  vital  processes,  materials  are 
elaborated  that  enter  into  the  composition  of  solids  and  fluids 
of  which  every  living  body  is  composed. 

Every  animal,  small  or  large,  except  in  the  most  rudimentary 
forms  of  life  in  particular  families  of  infusoria,  possesses  a 
stomach,  modified  in  structure  to  meet  the  peculiar  conditions 
of  each  species.  Some  have  two,  some  three,  and  the  peaceable, 
patient  ox  has  four,  the  food  passing  from  one  to  the  other 
before  reaching  the  intestinal  canal,  where  nutriment  is  sepa- 
rated from  the  useless  matter  with  which  it  was  united  before 
digestion  commenced. 

All  food  requires  a  preliminary  preparation  before  being 
6 wallowed.  Thus,  chewing,  grinding,  and  lubricating  it  by 
being  mixed  with  saliva, — a  product  of  glands  in  the  mouth  and 


216  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

throat, — facilitates  its  descent  down  the  oesophagus,  and  fits  it 
for  being  more  readily  acted  upon  by  the  gastric  juice. 

The  presence  of  food  in  the  stomach  stimulates  its  inner 
lining  membrane  to  pour  out  a  thin,  bland  fluid,  which  is  a 
powerful  solvent. 

By  alternate  contractions  and  elongations  of  the  fibres  of 
that  marvellously  constructed  organ,  the  mass  is  rolled  to  and 
fro,  so  that,  being  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  gastric  juice,  it  is 
changed  in  appearance  and  consistence,  preparatory  to  further 
vital  processes. 

Digestion  is  due  largely  to  a  succession  of  muscular  move- 
ments commenced  at  the  base  of  the  tongue.  One  set  of  fibres 
takes  up  the  action  where  those  above  leave  the  morsel,  and 
thus  it  is  propelled  from  point  to  point,  till  it  falls,  by  its 
gravity,  into  the  receiving-pouch,  for  such  is  the  stomach 
in  one  of  its  functions,  being  quiescent  till  the  cardiac  orifice 
closes. 

Teeth  deserve  a  more  extended  consideration  in  this  con- 
nection, than  can  be  bestowed  upon  them  at  this  stage  of 
investigation  of  the  laws  of  digestion. 

As  soon  as  they  have  ground  down  masses,  and  rendered 
them  pulpy,  soft,  and  easy  for  deglutition,  they  pass  through 
uplifted  arches  at  the  top  of  the  throat,  not  unlike  a  portcullis 
in  their  office.  Fairly  through,  the  gate  closes,  and  next  they 
are  passed  between  two  spongy  bodies,  the  tonsils,  the  use  of 
which  is  to  oil  them,  as  it  were,  to  prevent  friction  or  hindrance 
on  the  passage  down  the  tube  which  leads  to  the  stomach. 

Finally,  the  circular  and  longitudinal  muscular  threads  of 
which  the  oesophagus  is  constructed,  contracting  behind,  urges 
morsels,  assisted  by  gravity,  till  they  fall  into  the  membranous 
receptacle,  where  active  chemical  action  is  commenced. 


THE   WAYS   OF  WOMEN.  217 

PKOGRESS  OF  DIGESTION. 

In  a  few  hours,  the  food  thus  treated  mechanically  at  first 
passes  from  the  stomach  through  a  narrow  orifice,  controlled  by 
a  sphincter  muscle,  which  relaxes  or  spasmodically  closes  the 
orifice  according  to  the  sensation  it  receives  from  the  approach- 
ing mass  waiting  to  pass  through  the  pylorus,  into  the  upper 
portion  of  the  duodenum,  the  first  section  of  the  intestinal  tube, 
spoken  of  by  old  writers  as  a  second  stomach  in  man. 

When  a  bit  of  bone,  for  example,  has  been  accidentally 
swallowed, — a  nail,  a  metallic  button,  a  piece  of  money,  or, 
indeed,  anything  that  might  produce  irritation,  or  do  violence 
in  the  intestines,  it  is  not  allowed  to  proceed,  but  is  arrested  as 
a  prisoner  in  the  stomach,  where  it  is  acted  upon  by  the  gastric 
juice  till  reduced  to  dimensions  suitable  for  traversing  the 
whole  distance,  nearly  thirty  feet,  without  injury  to  the  delicate 
walls  of  the  canal,  then  it  is  permitted  to  proceed. 

The  circular  controlling  muscle  watching  over  the  safety  of 
parts  beyond,  is  a  vigilant  sentinel  that  rarely  ever  fails  of 
doing  faithful  duty. 

Indigestible  articles,  or  rather  those  which  for  a  very  long 
while  resist  the  decomposing  action  of  the  gastric  juice,  move 
up  to  the  pylorus  in  the  mass  waiting  for  exit  through  the 
gateway,  but  the  never-sleeping  watchdog — the  sphincter 
muscle — detects  the  effort,  and  invariably  drives  it  back. 

Unless  ejected  by  vomitation,  an  unwelcome  traveller, 
urgent  to  go  on  the  journey  that  he  has  commenced,  may  be 
thus  retained  for  one  or  two  years,  and  then  be  found  in  the 
stomach,  if  composed  of  elements  on  which  the  gastric  solvent 
acts  very  slowly,  or  not  at  all. 


218  THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN. 

SWALLOWING  AETICLES  ACCIDENTALLY. 

Pennies,  thimbles,  ivory  and  small  glass  balls,  marbles  and 
similar  articles,  the  playthings  of  children,  are  often  swallowed 
by  them.  When  smaller  than  the  ordinary  diameter  of  the 
pylorus,  such  bodies  are  permitted  to  pass  through  unmolested, 
and  they  are  soon  voided  without  producing  any  disturbance 
or  injury. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  too  large,  they  are  detained  till 
they  have  been  so  much  reduced  in  size  by  the  gastric  secretion, 
as  to  pass  with  impunity. 

Balls  of  hair  are  frequently  found  in  the  maws  of  cattle, 
when  slaughtered,  which  must  have  been  detained  there  a  very 
considerable  time,  and  which  never  could  have  been  removed 
on  account  of  their  size,  nor  melted  down  to  smaller  dimensions, 
because  their  composition  resisted  the  otherwise  powerful 
chemical  energy  of  the  gastric  juice. 

They  are  of  various  dimensions,  in  cabinets  from  half  an 
inch  to  four  or  five  in  diameter,  and  usually  perfectly  globular, 
as  though  they  had  been  constantly  rolling  about  to  acquire 
that  symmetrical  form. 

In  the  season  of  shedding  their  hair,  cattle  are  in  the  habit 
of  currying  each  other  with  their  tongues.  The  surface  of  that 
flexible  organ  is  covered  with  projecting  eminences,  called 
papillae,  which  point  towards  the  gullet.  In  raking  off  loose 
hair,  it  accumulates  on  them  as  it  does  on  a  currycomb.  Not 
being  able  to  dislodge  such  accumulations,  and  eject  them  from 
the  mouth,  they  are  swallowed.  While  detained  in  the  first 
stomach,  additions  are  made  to  the  mass 'from  time  to  time, 
wrhich  are  matted  on  and  felted  there  by  mucous  fluids,  and, 
finally,  the  ball  becomes  not  only  large,  but  exceedingly  com- 
pact, and  hard  as  wood. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  219 

When  a  cud  is  raised  to  the  mouth,  those  imprisoned  balls, 
unquestionably,  are  also  carried  to  the  cardiac  orifice,  through 
which  the  cud  ascends,  but  they  are  refused  a  passage.  The 
same  refusal  is  met  at  the  other  outlet  towards  the  intestine. 
This,  then,  explains  the  origin  and  detention  of  such  bodies  in 
the  stomach  of  ruminants. 


.CHEMICAL  POTENCY  OF  GASTEIC  JUICE. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  on  medical  record,  demon- 
strating the  irresistible  solvent  properties  of  the  gastric  juice — 
quite  as  intense  in  man,  and  nearly  as  concentrated  as  in  sharks 
and  serpents — occurred  in  Boston  over  fifty  years  ago,  in  the  per- 
son of  a  sailor  by  the  name  of  Cumings,  who  actually  swallowed 
several  pocket-knives.  About  one  year  after  the  event,  two  of 
the  knives  had  entirely  disappeared.  The  third  was  more  than 
half  gone  when  the  patient  died  of  gastritis. 

Had  the  exact  character  of  the  case  been  understood,  the 
surgeons  and  medical  gentlemen  in  attendance  at  the  hospital 
where  Cumings  had  been  admitted,  not  believing  his  constant 
assertion  that  he  had  penknives  in  his  stomach,  a  course  of  tonic 
treatment  might  have  been  pursued  that  would  have  sustained 
him  till  Nature  had  completed  the  grand  process  of  dissolving 
them,  and  thus  relieving  the  poor  sufferer,  who  was  considered 
a  lunatic. 

When  food  arrives  at  the  intestine  from  the  stomach,  it 
meets  there  with  several  peculiar  secretions  from  small  glands 
imbedded  in  its  coats,  each  of  which  performs  a  specific  chemical 
action  on  what  is  passing  over  the  tract  of  their  location. 


220  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

BILE  OR  GALL. 

About  twelve  inches  from  the  stomach,  gall  is  poured  into 
the  moving  mass,  and  various  fluids  from  ducts  opening  into  the 
interior  of  the  intestine.  A  little  lower,  pancreatic  fluid  is  in- 
troduced into  the  common  avenue,  which  converts  butter,  fat, 
oils,  etc.,  in  an  incredibly  short  time  into  an  emulsion,  which 
prepares  them  for  digestion.  Otherwise,  without  that  particular 
fluid,  those  aliments  would  pass  the  whole  length  of  the 
abdominal  tube,  and  be  ejected  without  having  been  essentially 
altered,  or  imparting  any  nutrition  to  the  body. 

LACTEALS. 

Still  lower  in  that  same  membranous  tube,  minute  ori- 
fices are  discoverable  in  its  walls,  opening  into  it.  Those  are 
extremely  numerous,  and  extend  through  the  entire  length,  but 
are  more  aggregated  into  clusters  in  some  places  than  others. 
Those  are  the  mouths  of  lacteal  vessels.  There  are  millions  of 
them  scarcely  larger  than  fine  needles.  The  outer  extremity 
running  back,  ultimately  terminates  in  fleshy  bodies,  known  as 
mesenteric  glands.  It  is  the  office  of  those  lacteal  mouths  to 
suck  up,  from  the  mass  passing  by,  chyle, — a  sort  of  milky-look- 
ing fluid,  the  product  of  digestion,  which  is  carried  directly  into 
the  mesenteric  glands. 

After  remaining  a  little  while  there,  probably  mixing  with 
a  secretion  peculiar  to  themselves,  the  fluid  passes  out  through 
minute  tubes  on  the  opposite  side,  which  finally  empty  their 
contents  into  a  mealy-white  tube  lying  on  the  side  of  the  spine. 

The  mesenteric  glands  are  way-stations,  where  the  milky 
fluid,  or  chyle,  undergoes  chemical  modifications  before  taking 
a  departure  for  the  thoracic  duct,  a  reservoir  into  which  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  221 

rich  product  of  digested  food,  that  which  alone  is  nourishment, 
is  conveyed. 

Lying  partly  in  front,  but  inclining  to  the  left  side,  is  a 
white  ascending  tube,  under  the  name  of  thoracic  duct,  which 
finally  makes  a  graceful  curve,  and  enters  into  the  great  jugu- 
lar vein  at  the  root  of  the  neck,  at  an  angle  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  the  subclavian  vein  from  the  arm  with  the  jugular. 

WHEKE  THE  CHYLE  GOES. 

A  small,  gentle  flow  of  that  milky  fluid  is  constantly  mixing 
with  venous  blood  from  the  left  arm  and  the  brain,  at  the  point 
described.  From  thence  the  new  white  fluid  unites  with  blood 
that  is  on  its  way  to  the  heart  to  be  revivified,  and  loses  its 
original  color  or  whiteness. 

Thus  tracing  the  chyle  from  its  origin,  we  ascertain  the 
manner  in  which  nature  provides  materials  for  sustaining  and 
keeping  in  repair  a  living  body. 


Although  material  for  making  blood  is  thus  explained 
mechanically,  one  further  process  must  be  completed  to  vitalize 
the  mixture  and  fit  it  for  the  purposes  of  life. 

Being  carried  to  the  right  side  of  the  heart,  the  auricle  into 
which  it  is  received  contracts  and  forces  it  down  through  an 
orifice  into  the  ventricle,  a  strong  chamber. 

That  next  contracts,  it  being  a  forcing-pump  of  prodigious 
power,  and  drives  the  new  blood  up  through  the  pulmonary 
artery  into  the  lungs. 

When  in  the  lungs,  the  blood  thus  driven  in  is  distributed 
into  unnumbered  millions  of  fine  tubes  which  ramify  and 
spread  round  small  air-cells.  Next,  we  inhale  air,  which  dis- 


222  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

tends  those  cells  into  air-balloons.  In  the  act  of  swelling  with 
the  inhaled  air,  the  waiting  blood  imbibes  from  it  oxygen,  and 
then  the  lungs  expel  the  air,  thus  deprived  of  an  essential  ele- 
ment, and,  in  expiration,  throw  off  carbonic  acid  gas. 

The  blood  is  now  vitalized  and  ready  to  fulfil  its  mission. 
For  that  purpose,  being  collected,  it  is  again  forced  into  the 
auricle  of  the  left  side  of  the  heart.  From  thence  it  is  forced 
into  the  ventricle  of  that  side,  and  from  thence  driven  into  the 
aorta,  a  tube  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  That 
is  ultimately  subdivided  into  smaller  and  smaller  arteries,  by 
which  the  blood  is  freely  distributed  over  and  completely 
through  every  portion  of  the  body,  as  already  described  on 
a  preceding  page. 

A  DOUBLE  HEART. 

The  right  and  left  sides  of  the  heart  are  quite  independent 
of  each  other  in  function.  There  have  been  cases  recorded 
where  the  two  halves  were  separated  at  considerable  distance 
from  each  other.  Nature  invariably  pursues  a  system  of  eco- 
nomy in  all  her  beautiful  works,  and  this  union  of  the  heart  of 
the  lungs  with  the  heart  of  the  body  is  an  illustration  of  the 
principle.  By  joining  the  two,  less  space  was  required,  while 
muscular  power  was  gained  for  both. 

Such  are  some  of  the  complicated  processes  on  which  life 
depends.  A  brittle  thread,  at  best,  is  vitality,  but  without  just 
so  many  cords,  tubes,  and  tissues,  there  would  be  neither  motion 
nor  consciousness. 

There  is  no  difference  in  the  anatomical  appearance  or  struc- 
ture of  the  digestive  organs  of  males  and  females.  They  are 
precisely  alike.  The  secretion  of  nutriment  and  its  final  diffu- 
sion in  no  respect  differ  in  the  two  sexes.  Their  food,  there- 
fore, should  be  the  same. 


THE   WAYS   OF   WOMEN.  223 

Women,  in  the  higher  social  walks  of  society,  oftener 
deprave  their  digestion  than  men,  by  subsisting  on  aliments 
too  concentrated.  This  important  fact  is  purposely  repeated 
many  times  in  this  volume. 

In  the  relation  to  which  these  remarks  are  applied,  their  food 
is  not  bulky  enough,  and  consequently  the  alimentary  canal  is 
not  as  fully  distended  as  it  should  be. 

Some  take  food  in  too  small  quantities,  for  fear  of  obesity, 
and  hence  the  abdominal  region  is  gaunt  and  contracted,  thereby 
compressing  the  hollow  viscera  too  closely. 

Those  who  by  free  exercise  in  open  air  have  excellent  health, 
also  have  an  active  digestion  and  a  vigorous  appetite.  There 
is  a  better  development  of  their  frames ;  and  both  strength, 
beauty,  energy  of  character,  and  those  qualities  which  distin- 
guish those  who  attain  distinction,  are  due  to  perfect  nutrition 
and  freedom  of  body  and  mind. 

The  foregoing  propositions  may  be  considered  trifling  to 
those  who  have  given  no  special  thought  to  the  philosophy  of 
digestion.  But  the  soundest,  brightest,  and  most  promising 
children  are  born  of  mothers  who  have  a  good  digestion. 

Feeble,  sickly,  peevish  children,  who  live  to  become  men  and 
women,  are  always  complaining  and  taking  medicine.  They 
had  mothers  from  whom  they  inherited  most  of  their  physical, 
to  say  nothing  of  their  moral  and  mental  disabilities. 

t/  O 

Numerous  functional  derangements,  together  with  grave 
indispositions,  are  popularly  charged  to  the  liver.  It  is  an  organ 
uniformly  supposed  by  those  totally  ignorant  of  its  offices  or 
construction,  to  have  a  controlling  influence  under  circum- 
stances where  it  probably  has  none  at  all. 

Some  physicians,  especially  those  the  least  qualified  by  their 
anatomical  acquirements  to  give  a  correct  diagnosis,  find  it  a 
convenient  retreat  for  concealing  their  ignorance,  to  refer  to 


224  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

that  organ  as  the  seat  of  many  morbid  conditions,  which  cannot 
be  readily  refuted  if  they  happen  to  be  wrong,  on  account  of 
its  locality. 

The  liver  is  a  gland  of  gigantic  size,  weighing  in  a  woman 
of  medium  stature  about  four  pounds.  Before  birth  it  is  vastly 
larger  and  wholly  disproportioned  to  other  organs  in  the  abdom- 
inal cavity,  as  they  appear  in  adults. 

A  reason  why  it  necessarily  has  such  dimensions  is  in  con- 
sequence of  having  nearly  all  the  circulating  blood  from  a 
maternal  source  sent  directly  to  it.  At  birth,  with  the  first 
breath  of  the  infant,  one  half  the  blood  that  went  to  the  liver 
before  is  instantly  diverted  from  it  by  the  closing  of  a  valve  in 
the  middle  of  the  heart. 

In  consequence  of  being  thus  suddenly  deprived  of  so  much 
vitalizing  fluid,  the  liver  hardly  maintains  its  volume.  Certain 
it  is,  it  remains  stationary  in  size  for  a  long  while.  In  the 
meantime,  other  parts  which  were  somewhat  rudimentary,  as  it 
were,  or  imperfectly  developed,  grow  into  their  predestined 
proportions  and  assume  more  active  labors. 

From  blood  sent  into  the  liver,  gall,  that  intensely  bitter 
fluid,  is  secreted.  One  of  the  specific  uses  of  the  liver  is  to 
elaborate  that  extraordinary  product  from  venous  blood.  Arter- 
ies convey  florid,  vitalized  blood  to  the  intestines  and  digestive 
apparatus,  where  it  leaves  its  vitalizing  influence.  When  that 
is  extracted,  the  remainder  flows  through  another  set  of  vessels, 
veins,  which  carry  it  to  the  lungs,  to  be  recharged  with  oxygen 
from  inhaled  atmospheric  air.  On  its  way  there  it  is  compelled 
to  pass  through  the  liver,  and  from  it  certain  vessels  take  out 
of  it  bile,  and,  as  we  shall  learn  in  the  sequel,  some  other 
products. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  225 

INTRICATE  MECHANISM. 

No  mechanism,  on  the  whole,  is  more  intricate  than  the 
network  of  tubes  by  which  bile  is  separated  from  the  passing 
current  of  venous  blood.  When  detached  or  drawn  aside  by 
itself,  a  transfer  of  it  to  the  gall-bladder,  where  it  is  stored 
for  after  occasions,  is  one  of  the  great  curiosities  of  animal  con- 
struction. 

Physiologists,  with  all  their  ingenuity  and  indomitable 
perseverance,  have  not  yet  definitely  settled  the  question 
of  the  use  of  bile  in  the  economy.  That  it  is  of  importance 
in  digestion  can  hardly  be  doubted,  and  yet  there  are 
more  theories  extant  than  facts  to  show  where  it  goes,  or  what 
it  is  for. 

Bilious  affections,  bilious  stomachs,  a  bilious  habit,  and  such 
like  expressions,  are  flippantly  banded  about  by  medical  practi- 
tioners as  they  are  by  persons  who  learn  them  as  parrots  do 
from  hearing  repetitions  of  the  same  phrases,  without  attaching 
any  meaning  to  the  words.  It  is  an  evidence  of  ignorance 
rather  than  scientific  attainment,  when  guessing  passes  for  pro- 
found pathological  acquirements. 

Too  much  is  charged  to  the  poor  liver,  and  tons  of  pills 
and  useless  prescriptions  are  directed  to  the  correction  of 
faults  it  never  had — to  the  cure  of  diseases  in  which  it  had  no 
agency. 

Regarded  by  non-professional  persons  as  performing  offices 
which  it  does  not  perform,  their  deductions  are,  of  course, 
as  crude  as  those  who  pretend  to  more  knowledge  without 
being  a  whit  wiser.  Bile  is  considered  a  terrible  foe  to  health 
in  common  parlance,  a  disorganizing  bugbear,  a  maker  of 
melancholy,  a  breeder  of  low  spirits,  jaundice,  and  a  host  of 
other  misfortunes  that  beset  mankind. 


226  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  sugar-making  ser- 
vices of  the  liver,  coupled  with  observations  on  its  complicated 
functions  before  and  after  birth.  It  being  a  comparatively 
recent  discovery  that  man  and  all  the  lower  families  of  terres- 
trial animals  carry  within  their  bodies  a  sugar-mill,  we  cannot 
pass  over  the  natural  provision  for  meeting  the  demands  of 
organic  life,  without  dwelling  particularly  on  that  remarkable 
function*  on  different  pages  of  this  work. 

DEMAND  FOR  SUGAR  AND  BILE. 

Sugar  must  be  provided  from  some  source.  If  it  does  not 
exist  in  sufficient  abundance  in  the  food  of  each  day,  the 
deficiency  is  supplied  by  the  liver, 

Attached  to  its  largest  lobe,  lying  underside  of  the  dia- 
phragm to  which  it  is  attached,  is  a  small  bag,  about  the  size 
and  form  of  a  small  pear,  into  which  bile  is  stored  for  future 
use.  A  slender  duct  leads  from  it  to  the  first  portion  of  the 
small  intestine  some  twelve  or  more  inches  from  the  stomach. 
In  the  process  of  digestion  the  bile  flows  into  the  upper  end  of 
the  intestinal  tube,  and,  undoubtedly,  there  performs  an  active 
part  in  chemically  preparing  the  passing  food  for  yielding  up 
its  nutritious  elements  ;  but  what  becomes  of  it  afterwards  has 
not  yet  been  positively  ascertained. 

Carnivorous  animals  secrete  more  bile  than  graminivorous ; 
and  ferocious  fishes,  as  sharks,  torpedoes,  wolf-fish,  etc.,  require 
far  more  than  social  dwellers  of  the  sea. 

Admitted  to  be  indispensable  to  perfect  digestion,  how  it 
acts,  or  what  becomes  of  the  quantities  secreted,  since  it  does 
not  pass  off  with  waste  materials  in  the  ordinary  manner,  very 
much  exercises  the  inquiring  minds  of  physiologists. 

That  noble  servant  of  man,  the  horse,  feeding  exclusively 
on  vegetable  food,  as  those  animals  do  which  chew  the  end,  has 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  227 

no  gall  bladder.  His  liver  is  of  ordinary  appearance  exteriorly. 
If  bile  is  secreted  in  the  horse's  liver,  where  are  the  excretory 
ducts  that  conduct  it  to  the  food  ?.  But  that  an  organ  of  such 
magnitude  and  weight,  occupying  so  much  room,  has  no  ser- 
vice to  perform  after  birth,  is  hardly  probable.  Naturalists 
have  the  mortification  to  acknowledge  the  impossibility,  at 
present,  of  explaining  its  true  function  in  the  horse. 

Ignorant  as  we  are,  and  humiliating  as  is  the  confession, 
that  many  guess  at  much  they  do  not  understand,  the  diseases 
of  the  liver  are  of  a  character  to  perplex  and  baffle  the  most 
experienced  physicians. 

In  certain  climates  it  becomes  indurated,  enlarges  enor- 
mously, and  besides,  scirrhosity,  abscesses,  and  ulcerations  are 
common  in  all  climates,  as  a  penalty  for  violating  sanitary 
laws,  which  can  never  be  pursued  for  any  great  length  of 
time  without  a  fearful  constitutional  reckoning. 

Malarious  influences  emanate  from  the  ground  in  warm, 
moist  regions,  where  vegetable  decomposition  tills  the  air  with 
something  neither  seen  nor  tasted,  but  which,  nevertheless, 
when  inhaled,  produces  extraordinary  disturbance  in  the  liver 
of  man.  Thus,  fever  and  ague  are  derived  from  that  source, 
while  another  condition  of  the  atmosphere  in  the  East  Indies 
gives  rise  to  various  enlargements  and  hardness,  which  defy 
the  ordinary  resources  of  medicine. 

Authors  have  not  sufficiently  investigated  the  effects  of 
certain  kinds  of  food  in  the  production  of  anomalous  disorders 
of  that  viscus.  That  the  profligate  use  of  curry  in  the  East 
Indies — a  fiery  hot  powder  made  of  red  pepper,  mustard, 
turmeric,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  other  ingredients,  which  would 
excoriate  the  skin,  externally  applied,  about  as  quickly  as  a 
burning  coal, — taken  into  the  stomach  at  every  meal  for  years  in 
succession,  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  derange  not  only  the 


228  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

stomach,  but  associated  organs.  So  it  may  be  admitted,  inas- 
much as  curry-eaters  have  indurated  livers,  that  peculiar  appe- 
tizing compound  has  some  agency  on  the  organ. 

Whiskey,  rum,  or,  indeed,  any  of  the  fiery  strong  liquor  dis- 
gracefully in  request  in  this  whiskey-smitten  nation,  acts  bane- 
fully  on, the  liver.  Those  who  keep  themselves  stimulated  by 
the  needless  use  of  distilled  spirits,  must  break  down  under  its 
undermining  tendency.  Medicine  furnishes  no  cure  for  an  en- 
larged or  schirrus  liver. 

When  it  becomes  diseased  in  any  way,  then  there  is  a  failure 
to  perform  the  office  for  which  it  was  mainly  designed, 
and,  consequently,  the  whole  body  quickly  betrays  its  need 
of  something  it  formerly  had,  in  a  yellowish,  or  rather,  a 
deadly  hue  of  the  skin,  loss  of  flesh  and  strength,  and  waning 
health. 

Next,  that  which  is  required  is  a  sufficiency  of  saccharine 
matter,  from  which  are  elaborated,  by  vital  processes,  elements 
to  be  distributed  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  body,  and  perhaps, 
too,  for  the  mind. 

The  liver,  in  short,  manufactures  sugar.  It  is  not  exactly 
sugar  of  the  shops  in  appearance,  but  a  sweetish  paste,  that 
takes  the  name  of  glucose. 

The  mass  of  the  liver  appears  to  be  made  up,  in  bulk,  of  an 
immense  congeries  of  arteries,  veins,  nerves,  lymphatics,  bile- 
tubes,  ligaments,  and  a  semi-elastic  tissue,  which  serves  as  a  bed 
to  keep  all  those  different  parts  from  interfering  with  each 
other. 

When  this  natural  sugar-mill  turns  off  more  sugar  than  the 
system  requires,  it  is  recognized  as  a  disease  known  as  diabetes. 
Nature  has  but  one  convenient  way  of  carrying  off  the  excess, 
and  that  is  by  dissolving,  and  floating  it  away  to  the  kidneys. 
Those  organs  separate  the  sugar  from  the  blood  in  which  it 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  229 

arrives,  and  forwards  it  to  the  bladder  to  be  voided.  By  boil- 
ing the  urine,  the  sugar  may  be  collected,  very  much  resembling 
ordinary  brown  sugar. 

DISEASED  LIVERS. 

Severely  as  the  liver  suffers  from  over-excitation  by  drink- 
ing ardent  spirits,  an  instructive  article  might  be  written  on  the 
unnecessary  medication  to  which  the  whole  system  is  subjected 
by  the  mistakes  of  physicians,  who  blindly  pursue  a  course  of 
practice  based  on  a  theoretical  condition  of  the  liver,  for  which 
the  poor  stomach  is  intolerably  dosed.  There  is  no  more  direct 
means  of  reaching  the  liver  in  any  of  the  morbid  conditions  to 
which  it  is  predisposed  from  climate,  abuse,  or  from  dissipated 
habits,  than  through  the  circuitous  route  of  the  circulation. 

Mercury  was  formerly  prescribed  immoderately,  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  liver  was  answerable  for  at  least  half  the  ills  to 
which  humanity  is  incident.  Salivations,  ulcerated  tonsils, 
loose  teeth,  inflamed  gums,  and  even  caries  of  the  bones  were 
the  result  of  that  one-idea  practice  now  obsolete.  But  the  liver 
was  too  frequently  the  focus  to  which  nauseous  preparations 
were  directed,  when  it  was,  perhaps,  in  no  way  involved. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  medicine  to  reach  the  liver  directly. 
There  is  no  tube  or  avenue  opening  between  the  stomach  and 
liver.  Therefore,  it  is  ridiculous  to  suppose  the  latter  can  be 
acted  upon  in  any  other  manner  than  through  the  blood. 

Some  persons,  more  .distinguished  for  general  intelligence 
than  their  knowledge  of  anatomy,  speak  of  ulcers,  or  abscesses 
of  the  liver,  which  discharge  into  the  stomach.  That  is 
positively  impossible,  unless  an  opening  has  been  ulcerated 
through  various  tissues,  and  lastly,  through  the  walls  of  the 
stomach,  before  any  such  imaginary  communication  can  be 
established. 


230  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Hastily  fattened  cattle,  stuffed  with  rich  food  faster  than  it 
can  be  appropriately  digested,  or  fed  on  warm  slops,  become 
singularly  disordered  in  their  liver.  Bed  spots,  ragged,  ulcerated 
patches  on  the  upper  surface,  and  enlargement,  evidently  show 
that  properties  may  be  introduced  into  the  circulation,  which, 
on  arriving  at  the  liver,  are  arrested,  and  stopping  there,  throw 
the  organ  into  a  morbid  state  of  action. 

Hypertrophy,  induration,  and  abscesses  are  conditions  of  the 
liver  in  men  who  have  no  mercy  on  themselves  by  excessive 
indulgence  in  strong  liquors.  Women  rarely  have  diseased 
livers.  Happily,  they  have  a  nicer  sense  of  propriety.  Their 
livers  seldom  become  disorganized,  or  suffer  from  those  hepatic 
woes  that  beset  tipplers. 

But  women  induce  hepatic  difficulties  by  a  custom  in  dress, 
indicated  by  a  yellowish,  tallowish  complexion,  usually  asso- 
ciated with  a  depraved  appetite. 

Tight-lacing  compresses  the  right  lobe,  lying  just  behind  the 
short  ribs ;  if  the  waist  is  closely  girded,  that  part  of  the  organ 
is  pressed  into  close  quarters,  which  must  interfere  with  a  free 
circulation  of  the  various  fluids  which  it  secretes,  independently 
of  arterial,  venous,  and  biliary  currents. 

If  the  bile  is  impeded  in  its  progress  to  the  gall-bladder,  or 
from  thence  into  the  intestines,  in  consequence  of  ligating  the 
waist,  very  serious  consequences  are  liable  to  follow. 

Here  is  found  an  explanation  of  an  often  asked  question, 
Why  young  ladies  are  so  frequently  tinged  with  yellow,  accom- 
panied by  indigestion  ?  The  bile  is  obstructed  by  compression 
of  the  liver,  by  waists  of  dresses  and  belts,  and  being  taken 
back  into  the  system  by  absorbments,  is  diffused  over  the  body, 
and  escapes  through  the  skin.  Jaundice  is  simply  that 
condition, — the  bile  not  flowing  off  through  the  pipes 
in  which  it  should  go,  owing  either  to  exterior  mechanical 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN  231 

compression,  gall-stones,    or    an    inflammation    which    closes 
them. 

A  celebrated  manufacturer  of  corsets,  having  satisfied  her- 
self that  women  will  wear  them — which  is  admitting  there  is 
no  necessity  for  that  kind  of  abdominal  support — has  invented 
a  substitute.  It  may  be  worn  with  comfort,  as  it  neither  com- 
presses the  chest,  ribs,  nor  the  sternum.  Her  object  is  simply 
to  hold  up  the  bowels,  so  that  they  cannot  be  forced  down  upon 
the  pelvic  viscera.  Having  the  confidence  of  physicians,  the 
inventress  has  extensive  patronage,  because  the  contrivance 
actually  relieves  the  pelvic  organs  from  invasions  which  ordi- 
nary stays  produce. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
THEIR  GROWTH. 

Men  Taller  than  Women — Male  Animals — Physical  Aspect — Length  of 
Lower  Extremities — Osseous  Development — Suspension  of  Growth — 
Inner  Capacity  of  the  Chest,  Broad,  Narrow — Short  Necks. 

EVERY  circumstance  in  the  history  of  an  individual  life,  in  a 
physical  aspect,  must  be  influenced  by  laws  which  govern  all 
organized  bodies.  Even  inorganic  forms  are  regulated  by  fixed 
laws  also,  since  there  is  nothing  transpiring  by  chance. 

There  is  a  law  of  limitation  in  the  growth  of  men  and 
women,  operating  infallibly  in  the  formation  of  each  and  all 
tissues,  by  which  proportions  are  established. 

Men  ordinarily  are  taller  than  women,  and  stronger.  Males 
of  all  orders  are  usually  superior  in  size,  and  muscular  force  in 
them  is  also  proportionately  superior  to  that  of  females  of  their 
kindred.  Such  is  particularly  the  case  with  quadrupeds  and 
birds.  They  are  more  beautiful,  too, — more  imposing  in  their 
physique  and  bearing.  Females  are  smaller,  and  destitute  of 
those  markings  or  colorings  which  are  distinguishing  beauties, 
including  manes,  fringed  limbs,  brilliant  feathers,  and  other 
exterior  appointments  that  give  character  to  the  males. 

Woman,  however,  transcends  in  beauty  of  form,  facial  ex- 
pression, and  in  the  impression  she  makes  on  the  spectator. 

Among  reptiles,  usually,  the  female  is  the  largest.  A  law 
of  positive  necessity  operates  in  favor  of  that  oversize  above  the 
male.  The  enormous  number  of  eggs  some  of  them  extrude, 
or  the  number  of  young  incubated  within  their  own  bodies, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  233 

requires  room  for  the  expansion  of  oviducts  in  which  they  are 
carried. 

Thus  there  are  oviparous  and  viviparous  reptiles.  Some  void 
their  eggs  to  be  incubated  by  the  solar  rays,  while  others  have 
them  hatched  in  the  abdominal  cavity. 

Birds,  being  of  a  higher  type,  have  their  eggs  developed  so 
that  one  is  voided  daily,  or  once  in  two  or  three  days,  ripening 
so  orderly  and  rapidly  too,  that  a  larger  pouch  is  not  needed. 
If  their  eggs  all  matured  at  once,  as  in  a  turtle,  a  fish,  or  in 
thousands  of  insects,  in  parcels,  which  are  extruded  at  intervals 
of  one  or  two  weeks,  the  bulk  of  the  eggs  laid  in  twenty  days 
would  equal,  if  not  exceed,  in  bulk  the  body  from  which  they 
were  extruded. 

Some  tribes  of  fishes  have  amazing  fecundity,  actually  pro- 
ducing millions  of  eggs  in  a  single  season.  Were  they  brought 
together,  their  combined  weight  would  exceed  the  weight  of 
the  individual  in  which  they  were  formed  by  twenty-fold. 

The  rapidity  of  development  of  some  insect  eggs  in  a  single 
day,  from  mere  specs  scarcely  discernible,  into  fully  distended 
globes  almost  as  large  as  peas,  illustrates  in  another  form  the 
extreme  activity  of  vital  force  when  aided  by  light,  heat,  and 
moisture. 

TALL  OR  SHORT. 

Why  a  man  ceases  to  grow  taller  on  reaching  six  feet,  six 
feet  four  inches  or  more,  or  why  growth  is  ever  arrested  in 
the  process  of  osseous  elongation,  is  quite  beyond  the  ken  of 
modern  philosophy.  Theories  prove  nothing,  while  facts  cannot 
be  jostled  out  of  sight.  Speculations  on  this  point,  therefore, 
are  to  no  purpose. 

Admitting  that  men  rarely  exceed  six  feet  in  any  country, 
if  *a  few  happen  to  exceed  that  ordinary  standard  of  limitation, 


234:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

they  are  called  giants.  Why  women  rarely  reach  the  same 
measure,  is  quite  as  difficult  to  explain  as  the  other  proposition. 
A  difference  in  height  depends  almost  entirely  on  the  length 
of  the  lower  extremities  in  both  sexes. 

From  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  ischiatic  knobs, — two 
points  on  which  we  sit, — there  is  not  much  variation  in  the 
measure.  Males  and  females  have  an  equal  number  of  bones, 
and  the  distance  between  these  two  starting-points  is  about  the 
same.  Below,  however,  the  length  of  the  thigh-bones  deter- 
mines the  stature  of  the  individual. 

Some  singular  anotiialies  are  noticed  occasionally,  which 
seem  at  first  view  to  contradict  a  received  opinion  respecting 
the  laws  of  growth. 

George  W.  Crawford,  of  Sciota  county,  Ohio,  fifteen  years 
of  age,  in  the  autumn  of  1869,  was  six  feet  and  one  inch  tall, 
measuring  around  his  shoulders  three  feet  eleven  inches; 
around  his  hips,  forty-two  inches  ;  around  the  chest,  forty-one 
inches  ;  and  he  weighed  two  hundred  and  eight  pounds. 

Benjamin  F.  Kiplinger,  of  Rush  county,  Indiana,  about  the 
same  period,  who  was  fifteen  years  old  September  20,  1869, 
stood  six  feet  eight  inches,  measuring  around  his  shoulders 
fifty-seven  inches,  forty- six  around  his  chest,  forty-six  around 
the  hips,  and  weighed  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds,— 
wearing  number  twelve  shoes ! 

Seated  at  table,  on  the  same  level,  men  and  women,  taken 
indifferently,  appear  to  be  about  equal  in  height,  there  being 
only  a  slight  deviation  from  a  horizontal  line  passing  above 
their  heads.  On  rising,  some  are  exceedingly  tall  and  others 
remarkably  short.  The  difference  is  found  in  the  femoral 
bones.  From  the  knee  to  the  instep,  the  tibia  and  fibula,  or 
leg-bones,  are  correspondingly  short  also,  to  conform  to  propor- 
tions above  the  articulations. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  235 

At  birth  the  lower  limbs  are  very  short  and  small,  quite 
disproportioued  to  the  scale  of  development  of  tlie  upper  ex- 
tremities, which  is  explained  by  the  well-known  fact  that  they 
receive  but  a  limited  amount  of  blood  while  in  utero.  Imme- 
diately after  birth,  blood  which  circulated  in  the  placenta, 
diverted  from  the  iliac  arteries,  is  then  sent  into  the  legs.  But 
they  seldom  attain  in  females  the  length  of  the  lower  ex- 
tremities of  males,  even  when  the  nutrition  is  increased  by  an 
increased  flow  of  blood.  Hence,  women  are  generally  below 
the  stature  of  adult  males.  Exceptions  to  the  rule  are  con- 
sidered anomalies. 

Blood  is  circulated  very  nearly  alike  in  both  sexes,  but  the 
extension  of  bones  is  more  actively  carried  on  in  boys  than  in 
girls,  in  bones  below  the  pelvis. 

This  law  of  osseous  development  presents  matter  for  con- 
sideration in  regard  to  life-insurance  investigations.  Physical 
signs  of  longevity  in  man  was  a  prize  essay  a  few  years  since, 
published  by  a  Life  Insurance  office  of  New  York,  abound- 
ing in  very  curious  facts  not  very  generally  known  in  relation 
to  life  limitation.  Some  of  them  were  as  follows : 

First, — Brothers  and  sisters  of  the  same  parentage,  reared 
under  precisely  the  same  circumstances  as  regards  food,  clothing, 
ventilation  of  apartments,  etc.,  have  different  statures  when  they 
arrive  at  adult  age.  Yet  at  birth,  and  through  the  developing 
periods  of  childhood  and  adolescence,  they  were  apparently  in- 
fluenced, physically,  precisely  alike. 

Unquestionably,  therefore,  there  are  causes  operating  dis- 
advantageously,  at  times,  for  the  growth  of  parts,  if  not  of  the 
whole  body.  In  dwarfs,  the  deposition  of  ossific  material  stops 
suddenly.  It  may  happen  soon  after  birth,  or  at  any  period 
between  the  second  and  third  year.  Occasionally  the  process 
of  growth  ceases  in  a  single  limb,  or  it  may  in  both  so  exactly 


236  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEX. 

at  the  same  time  as  to  leave  them  of  the  same  length.  From 
some  unknown  cause,  essential  elements  cease  to  be  any  longer 
deposited. 

"While  there  is  a  progressive  development  in  the  system, 
and  all  the  mechanism  is  being  enlarged  in  volume  and  per- 
fected, there  is  intense  activity.  By  and  by,  however,  the 
law  of  limitation  puts  a  stop  to  those  long-continued  internal 
operations. 

Ossification  is  then  completed,  the  muscles  are  full  and 
strong.  The  future  secretion  and  deposition  of  lime  and  other 
earthly  components  of  bones,  instead  of  being  gathered  in  such 
abundance  as  formerly  from  food,  are  only  just  enough  to  keep 
those  solid  parts  in  repair. 

STRENGTH  OF  BONES  AND  THEIR  DECAY. 

An  impression  is  entertained  that  bones  of  tall  persons  are 
more  easily  fractured  than  those  of  short  people.  Cylindrical 
bones,  as  the  thigh  and  arm,  when  particularly  long,  are  less 
in  diameter  than  the  same  bones  in  those  of  short  stature. 

As  individuals  advance  in  age,  gelatine — the  mortar  that 
holds  the  bony  particles  together  like  bricks  in  an  edifice — is 
secreted  less  actively,  and  its  adhesive  properties  are  also  en- 
feebled. Finally,  the  quantity  is  so  much  diminished,  the 
bones  of  aged  persons  are  easily  broken.  A  sparseness  of  that 
natural  glue  explains  why  their  fractured  bones  unite  slowly, 
or  sometimes  not  at  all. 

If,  as  some  surgeons  suggest,  broken  bones  of  short  patients 
unite  quicker  than  those  of  tall  ones,  all  other  circumstances 
being  equal  in  respect  to  age,  attentions,  etc.,  it  must  be  due  to 
a  more  rapid  circulation  in  the  first,  in  whom  the  pulsations  are 
quickest  and  most  energetic. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  237 

It  is  a  fact  that  vital  force  is  strongest  in  short  people.  The 
blood  has  not  so  far  to  move,  and  ther,e  is  less  retardation  of  the 
current  from  friction,  admitting  that  curves  and  short  angles  in 
arteries  and  veins  offer  some  resistance. 

A  general  impression  is  entertained  among  close  observers, 
that  longevity  appertains  to  persons  rather  under  size  than  to 
the  tall. 

A  broad,  full  chest  does  not  always  belong  to  a  tall  man  or 
woman.  On  the  contrary,  those  under  size  are  rarely  fragile  in 
form,  or  narrow  across  the  thorax. 

When  the  inner  capacity  of  the  chest  admits  of  a  perfectly 
full  inflation  of  the  lungs,  the  prospect  of  life  is  greater  than 
in  a  constricted  cavity  where  the  organs  cannot  have  play 
enough  to  oxygenate  the  volume  of  blood  sent  to  them. 

SHORT  WOMEN". 

When  solidification  of  the  leg  bones  progresses  slowly,  there 
is  commonly  an  active  ossification  taking  place  in  the  spinal 
column.  Harmonious  architectural  proportions  are  not  main- 
tained in  women  as  in  men.  There  are  more  short  females  than 
males.  Perhaps  it  may  be  there  is  a  predominance  of  short 
men  in  a  thousand,  but  whether  tall  or  short,  the  scale  of  pro- 
portions is  superior  in  the  tall. 

Among  a  thousand  females  of  all  conditions  of  life,  the 
short  immeasurably  outnumber  the  tall — the  upper  parts  of  their 
bodies  being  generally  better  developed  than  the  lower,  which 
are  not  in  exact  proportion  with  the  scale  above  the  pelvic  arch. 

A  lady  may  have  a  finely-developed  chest,  a  round  full 
bust,  well-set  shoulders,  and  a  beautiful  neck,  while  the  thigh 
bones  are  so  very  imperfectly  developed  that  she  is  dispropor- 
tionately short. 


238  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Every  internal  organ,  embracing  the  entire  contents  of  the 
thorax,  abdomen,  and  pelvis,  are  quite  as  large  and  perfect  in 
function  as  in  those  ladies  who  are  tall.  The  only  anatomical 
difference  is  to  be  found  in  the  length  of  the  bones  in  the  infe- 
rior extremities. 

A  lady  distinguished  for  a  particularly  long  neck,  swan-like 
in  gracefulness,  may  be  considered  to  have  an  imperfect  chest, 
and,  therefore,  her  life  expectation  is  not  as  good  as  that  of  one 
of  the  same  age  and  physical  condition  whose  neck  is  an  inch 
shorter. 

An  explanation  of  this  law  of  probability  is  found  in  the 
osseous  structure.  All  men  and  women  have  twenty-four  bones 
in  the  vertebral  column,  seven  of  which  are  usually  in  the  neck. 
Those  twenty-four  blocks,  which,  collectively,  are  called  the 
spine,  are  singularly  locked  together  to  prevent  them  from 
sliding  out  of  place. 

Occasionally  an  anomaly  is  recognized  in  the  distribution  of 
these  bones.  There  should  be  alwavs  seven  in  the  neck,  twelve 

t/ 

in  the  back,  and  five  in  the  loins.  But  when  the  neck  is  un- 
usually long,  it  has  eight  blocks.  That  takes  one  from  the 
dorsal  range,  leaving  only  eleven  in  the  back. 

That  circumstance  necessarily  makes  the  chest  just  the 
depth  of  the  missing  bone  smaller,  in  its  vertical  direction, 
than  it  would  have  been  had  it  remained  where  it  is  usually  to 
be  found. 

CAPACITY  OF  THE  FEMALE  CHEST. 

The  lungs  and  heart,  as  a  natural  consequence,  are  compelled 
to  act  in  a  smaller  cavity.  That  being  the  actual  condition, 
those  vital  organs,  on  which  the  preservation  of  life  depends, 
are  cramped,  and  their  expansion  limited  in  the  performance  of 
their  functions. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  239 

Thus,  if  the  lungs  have  not  room  enough  for  full  inflation, 
nor  the  heart  for  its  diastole,  the  consequences  are  unfavorable 
for  long  life. 

Here,  then,  is  a  plain  mechanical  demonstration  of  the 
anomaly  of  a  long  neck,  and  the  consequences  resulting  from 
diminishing  the  capacity  of  the  chest. 

When  the  neck  is  remarkably  short,  it  may  have  seven  bones 
in  its  composition,  but  they  may  be  so  thin  as  to  be  a  deviation 
from  the  type  which  nature  in  most  cases  prescribes. 

Thus,  the  chest  may  be  full  and  broad,  while  the  physician 
recognizes  in  that  kind  of  short  neck  a  tendency  to  apoplexy. 
Irregularities  or  excesses  of  any  kind,  including  sudden  excite 
ments,  pain,  stimulants  taken  into  the  stomach,  excessive 
paroxysms  of  rage,  hatred,  love,  or  joy,  drive  blood  into  the 
brain  faster  than  the  veins  conduct  it  away,  and  sudden  death 
ensues. 

With  a  short  neck  and  large  chest  the  heart  acts  with  great 
energy,  forcing  blood  into  the  brain  and  deranging  it,  on 
account  of  the  inability  of  the  veins  to  carry  it  away  fast 
enough.  This  is  apoplexy. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THEIR  EYES. 

Force  of  Ocular  Expression — Wearing  Glasses — Desiring  to  Appear  Near- 
lighted — Fashionable  to  have  Defective  Vision — Abuse  of  the  Organ — 
Eyesight  of  Animals  in  General— Do  without  Glasses  if  Possible. 

FOR  brilliancy,  no  gems  compare  with  the  eyes  of  a  beautiful 
woman. 

Examples  are  unnecessary  for  establishing  the  truth  of  this 
declaration.  There  is  a  fascination,  a  bewildering  influence  in 
a  pair  of  bright  eyes  that  moves  and,  indeed,  electrifies  the 
roughest  specimens  of  manhood  with  undefined  emotions. 

Fine  eyes  are  potent  engines.  When  the  features  are  sym- 
metrically moulded,  eyes  of  some  hues  are  irresistibly  powerful. 
Set  off  advantageously  by  long  silken  lashes,  a  sweet  expression 
is  the  highest  type  of  female  loveliness. 

Men  cannot  explain,  even  to  themselves,  how  or  what  it  is 
that  moves  them  so  mysteriously  in  coming  into  the  presence 
of  a  handsome  woman.  It  is  admitted  there  is  an  irresistible 
force  set  in  motion,  but  in  what  manner  it  takes  such  hold  is 
not  of  easy  explanation. 

That  magnetism — an  unseen  agent — is  the  instrumentality 
with  which  women  are  made  more  potent  than  the  strongest 
men,  cannot  be  questioned.  It  is  more  than  an  equivalent  for 
large  bones  and  elephantine  muscles. 

Men  -brave  tempests,  dare  enemies  in  bloody  combats,  look- 
ing destruction  in  the  face  with  unflinching  energy.  Woman 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  241 

shrinks  back  in  timid  consciousness  of  being  unable  to  battlo 
physically  for  her  rights.  In  the  very  posture  she  assumes,  the 
expression  she  exhibits,  and  the  delicacy  of  her  organization,  she 
is  more  than  a  match  for  giants  when  they  offer  violence. 

When  an  incensed  woman  fixes  a  withering  glance  on  a 
wretch  who  threatens  to  do  her  WTong,  or  calls  her  honor  in 
question,  the  weight  of  her  scorn  is  unbearable.  Such  a  villain 
suddenly  cowers  beneath  her  searching  indignation,  and  wilts 
away  from  her  heroic  presence.  J/ 

Regardless  of  color,  the  eyes  singularly  harmonize  with  the 
features.  Complexion  and  general  corporeal  expression  is  a 
study  gifted  artists  have  not  yet  mastered,  although  they  have 
been  pursuing  their  investigations  since  the  days  of  Apelles. 

VISION. 

Perfect  vision  is  marred,  and,  indeed,  the  eyes  that  were 
perfect,  and  would  have  remained  so  through  the  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances of  life,  are  seriously  injured  now-a-days  by  the  ca- 
price of  fashion. 

INFLAMED  EYES. 

Inflammation  of  the  conjunctiva,  the  first  membrane  over 
the  front  of  the  globe,  delicately  thin  and  transparent,  is  kept 
slightly  inflamed  by  too  much  light.  The  pupil — a  round  win- 
dow through  which  light  reaches  the  posterior  wall  of  the  eye — 
cannot  escape  injury,  if  the  outer  membrane  becomes  either 
thickened  or  clouded.  Both  of  those  conditions  may  be  induced 
by  applying  preparations  with  a  view  to  making  the  eyes  more 
brilliant.  It  is  a  weakness  of  a  very  extensive  class  of  ladies, 
who,  in  their  desire  to  make  them  piercing,  or,  as  they  imagine, 
more  captivating,  cannot  be  convinced  those  preparations  they 


242  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

use  are  lamentably  injurious.  An  irritant  that  inflames  any 
surface  extends  its  influence  beyond  where  it  is  applied.  Any- 
thing that  directly  offends  the  irritable  anterior  surface  of  the 
eye,  instantly  brings  a  flood  of  tears  to  wash  it  away.  Streaks  of 
blood  are  simply  an  engorgement  of  minute  vessels,  which,  un- 
molested, are  invisible  behind  the  conjunctival  membrane. 

Inflammations  thus  exhibited  conclusively  prove  there  has 
been  some  wrong-doing,  or  incidental  exposure  to  causes  which 
produce  that  condition. 

When  an  inflammation  is  established,  and  the  vessels  under 
the  conjunctival  membrane  lying  on  the  selerotica,  or  white  of 
the  eye,  become  strongly  defined,  if  not  subdued,  they  may 
shoot  across  the  pupil,  forming  a  veil  that  would  obstruct  the 
passage  of  light. 

When  there  is  a  sensation  under  the  lids  like  particles  of 
sand,  it  indicates  the  development  of  projecting  fleshy  granules 
on  the  under  surface,  which  chafe,  and  still  further  increase  in- 
flammation by  the  movements  of  the  eye.  The  friction  is 
intolerably  painful  in  some  cases,  accompanied  by  an  intolerance 
of  light.  Improper  applications  to  the  organs,  in  the  form  of 
washes  or  unguents,  keep  up  a  continued  irritation  that  may  re- 
sult in  the  production  of  granulation  or  other  equally  severe 
afflictions. 

Some  persons  are  predisposed  to  a  preternatural  irritability 
of  the  margins  of  the  eyelids.  They  have  a  red,  inflamed  ap- 
pearance, generally  aggravated  by  a  sudden  cold,  a  particularly 
strong  light,  or  exposure  to  winds  laden  with  dust. 

A  peculiar  ferreted  appearance  of  the  lids,  which  is  a  chronic 
inflammation  of  their  most  exposed  mucous  surface,  is  attended 
by  another  inconvenience  that  may  degenerate  into  a  formidable 
malady,  if  too  long  neglected.  It  is  a  gluing  together  of  the 
edges  of  the  upper  and  lower  lids  by  the  flow  during  sleep  of 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  243 

an  adhesive  secretion,  slowly  soluble  in  cold  water.  Tepid 
water  separates  them  pretty  readily. 

A  continued  use  of  cosmetics,  apparently  perfectly  harmless, 
not  un frequently  do  great  injury  to  the  eyes  of  ladies  who 
indulge  in  that  reprehensible  practice  of  attempting  to  improve 
upon  Nature. 

Eyes  are  constructed  upon  philosophical  principles,  so  per- 
fect with  reference  to  the  laws  of  light,  that  they  cannot  be 
tampered  with,  nor  readjusted  easily  when  once  disordered. 
The  refractive  power  of  the  lens  may  be  altered  by  violence 
inflicted  on  the  exterior  of  the  globe. 

So  much  of  our  knowledge,  happiness,  and  every-day  com- 
fort depends  on  a  sound,  perfect  condition  of  our  eyes,  we  can- 
not be  too  choice  of  them.  They  are  too  precious  to  be  jeopard- 
ized under  the  treatment  of  ignorant,  self -announced  oculists. 

WEARING  GLASSES. 

Many  charming  faces  are  completely  bereft  of  the  expres- 
sion they  would  have  had,  unmolested  by  the  silly  desire  of 
otherwise  sensible  ladies,  for  wearing  glasses.  An  unaccount- 
able disposition  to  have  it  supposed  that  they  have  defective 
vision,  is  another  strange  phase  in  the  vagaries  of  fashion. 
To  be  near-sighted  is  a  coveted  grace. 

In  some  departments  of  elevated  society,  nothing  is  more 
common  than  to  see  young  ladies  harnessed  in  spectacles,  or 
peering  through  an  eyeglass  at  their  familiar  acquaintances  on 
the  side-walk,  as  though  it  were  extremely  difficult  to  see 
them  at  all. 

None  but  fops  or  idle  pretenders  of  both  sexes,  who  ape 
the  artificial  manners  of  some  polar  star  in  fashionable  circles, 
think  of  making  themselves  ridiculous  in  that  particular  way. 


244:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN 

It  is  conclusive  evidence  of  their  vanity  and  mental  weakness. 
An  eyeglass  dangling  from  a  splendid  chain  is  a  coveted 
ornament  for  a  drawing-room.  To  be  squinting  through  it  at 
wall-pictures,  or  closely  examining  an  object  that  a  blind  man 
might  almost  see,  by  those  who  have  no  imperfection  of  vision, 
is  a  common  folly. 

Everything,  near  or  distant,  must  be  scrutinized  through  an 
eyeglass.  Not  because  they  cannot  see,  but  simply  because 
it  is  extremely  genteel  to  be  purblind. 

To  gaze  with  profound  attention  through  an  eyeglass  at  a 
horse  passing  the  window,  with  an  avowed  inability  to  deter- 
mine what  creature  it  may  be  by  the  unassisted  eye,  is  an 
immense  recommendation,  indicative  of  polished  manners. 
If  a  lady  is  ingenious  in  striking  attitudes  at  the  same  moment, 
she  may  consider  herself  a  queen  of  fashion. 

No  vulgarity  is  rated  lower  in  the  tablet  of  exquisite 
refinement,  than  having  good  sound  eyes.  Examining  those 
to  whom  one  has  an  introduction,  with  an  eyeglass,  as  an 
entomologist  would  scrutinize  a  bug  under  a  microscope,  passes 
for  extreme  refinement. 

Young  misses,  fresh  from  a  boarding-school,  are  in  ecstasies 
when  they  first  have  possession  of  an  eyeglass  set  in  a  chased 
gold  rim.  They  then  cannot  see  those  they  do  not  wish  to 
recognize — which  is  a  decided  step  in  their  education. 

PROGRESS  OF  GENTILITY. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  deplorable  that  civilization  delights  in 
blindness.  Possibly  a  sentiment  prevails  that  one  can  see 
enough  with  half  an  eye.  But  this,  absurd  as  it  is,  is  as- 
sociated with  another  equally  ridiculous  habit,  that  has  even 
got  possession  also  of  men  of  the  no-brain  order.  To  lisp 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  245 

divinely,  and  be  in  poor  health,  is  the  climax  of  perfection 
in  the  constitution  of  a  modern  lady  of  unexceptionable  social 
position.  It  gives  a  finishing  perfection  to  a  belle  of  the 
period. 

These  are  follies  that  amuse  people  of  sense  for  a  while ; 
but  it  is,  nevertheless,  lamentable  that  folly  should  have  such 
prominent  ascendency  where  genuine  good-breeding  and  worth 
of  character  are  at  a  discount. 

Those  who  cannot  afford  to  be  blind  voluntarily,  like  those 
who  articulate  their  words  distinctly,  have  no  influence  where 
near-sightedness  and  lisping  are  the  criteria  of  social  ex- 
cellence. 

Near-sightedness  is  most  appreciated  in  circles  distinguished 
for  opulence.  In  the  country,  remote  from  the  baneful  influ- 
ences and  innovations  of  fashionable  folly,  the  ladies  have 
eyes  keen  enough  to  discriminate  between  affectation  and 
malformations. 

A  real  necessity  for  glasses  appertains  to  advanced  age,  but 
rarely  as  necessary  as  those  who  have  them  to  sell  would  have 
the  world  believe. 

There  is  another  unrebuked  exhibition  of  vanity  or  self- 
esteem — it  is  difficult  to  determine  which — viz.,  having  por- 
traits and  photographs  saddled  with  lunettes  at  the  expense  of 
a  silly  unmeaning  expression.  Artists  dread  them,  knowing  by 
experience  of  the  impossibility  of  giving  any  character  to  the 
picture  of  a  face  marred  by  bows  and  glasses. 

Portraits  of  men  and  women  with  strongly  moulded 
features,  full,  animated  eyes,  in  harmony  with  their  other 
physiognomical  attributes,  are  deprived  of  an  essential  part  of 
their  force  of  expression  when  painted  in  spectacles. 

It  is  quite  surprising  with  what  tenacity  some  young,  newly- 
fledged  clergymen  cling  to  glasses,  whose  eyes  never  had  a 


246  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

defect  in  them,  on  the  presumption,  it  is  theoretically  pre- 
sumed, that  an  audience  associate  with  such  toggery,  profound 
scholarship,  and  deep  theological  explorations  in  the  dust 
of  ages. 

No  orator  "who  moves  the  multitude  by  the  power  of  his 
eloquence,  wears  glasses.  To  touch  the  hearts  with  fitting 
words,  to  arouse  the  deepest  feelings  of  sympathy,  or  excite 
ferocious  indignation  by  a  recital  of  real  or  imaginary  wrongs, 
the  full,  unshackled  face  of  the  speaker  must  be  seen.  Sen- 
tences that  roll  along  the  aisles  like  avalanches  from  the  lofty 
summits  of  mighty  mountains,  would  lose  their  effect  if  enun- 
ciated in  the  dark.  An  orator  must  not  only  be  seen  as  well  as 
heard,  to  accomplish  the  highest  results  of  his  burning  lan- 
guage, but  his  face,  and  particularly  his  eyes,  must  not  have 
their  electrical  energy  intercepted  by  non-conducting  glasses. 

Each  one  of  the  special  organs  of  sense  is  a  faithful  sentinel 
till  the  hour  of  death,  if  it  has  not  been  impaired, — even 
beyond  a  hundred  years,  in  vast  numbers  of  instances. 

Taste  and  feeling  rarely  ever  flag  in  a  prolonged  longevity. 
When  three  other  senses  are  destroyed,  there  is  consciousness. 

Through  the  instrumentality  of  nerves,  the  mind  receives 
intelligence  of  impressions,  of  whatever  kind  or  character. 

Yision  ought  not  to  give  out  till  the  lamp  of  life  goes  out  in 
old  age.  Were  we  to  treat  our  eyes  with  as  much  tenderness  as 
they  deserve,  we  should  have  distinct  vision  till  the  hour  of 
death,  at  the  most  advanced  period  of  human  life.  Our  eye- 
sight would  be  nearly  as  perfect  when  we  have  reached  seventy 
years,  as  when  we  were  young,  were  it  not  for  the  abuse  of 
them  by  intense  light,  gas-jets,  and  the  fatigue  to  which  they 
are  subjected  by  reading  small  type-books,  and  continuing  the 
labor  too  long  at  a  time. 

Wild  animals  have  perfect  vision  as  long  as  they  have  ability 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

to  forage  for  food.  Birds,  too,  have  distinct  vision  till  they 
die  of  old  age.  A  goose  lives  to  upwards  of  eighty  years  in  a 
state  of  domestication,  with  no  failure  of  vision.  Probably, 
reptiles  and  fishes  also  have  perfect  and  accurately  distinct 
vision  at  all  periods  through  their  long  lives.  If  whales  reach 
a  thousand  years,  and  sharks  an  extended  longevity,  their  vision 
is,  unquestionably,  perfect  and  unimpaired  all  the  days  allotted 
them. 

Tortoises  have  been  repeatedly  found  with  dates  inscribed 
on  their  shells,  indicating  almost  a  century  from  the  date  of 
the  marking,  and  they  may  have  been  ancient  settlers  when 
those  dates  were  inscribed ;  yet  their  eyesight  was  keen  enough 
for  perceiving  an  enemy,  or  discovering  appropriate  nourish- 
ment. 

Man,  alone,  has  defective  vision  prematurely,  and  usually 
from  neglect  or  over-working  his  eyes.  Domesticated  dogs, 
cattle  and  horses  in  the  service  of  men,  are  subjected,  to  con- 
siderable extent,  to  conditions  of  exposure,  which  impair  our 
own  sight.  A  dog  reposing  in  the  corner,  occasionally  gazes 
into  a  blazing  fire.  Horses  and  cattle  are  approached  with 
caution  in  the  stall,  or  placed  where  artificial  light  acts  directly 
upon  their  eyes.  When,  under  the  guidance  of  their  own  in- 
stincts, they  retire,  as  the  fowls  go  to  roost,  with  the  approach 
of  night,  and  open  their  eyes  early,  as  the  sun  gradually  rises, 
so  that  no  sudden  glare  impinges  to  their  injury. 

All  animals  avoid  light,  after  evening  shades  set  in,  unless 
compelled  to  change  their  habits.  That  is  the  secret  of  their 
excellent  and  distinct  powers  of  perception. 

Were  we  to  do  as  they  do,  we  should  have  no  complaint  to 
make  of  waning  vision. 


248  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

CHANGING  Axis  OF  Vision. 

The  convexity  of  the  eye  undoubtedly  varies  so  that 
scarcely  any  two  persons  have  the  same  curve,  and  hence  the 
focal  distance  of  distinct  vision  must  necessarily  vary.  One 
sees  accurately  at  ten  inches,  another  at  twelve  or  fourteen,  and 
another  at  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  from  the  eye.  The  scale 
of  distance  varies  exceedingly  in  that  respect,  in  the  small  num- 
ber of  a  dozen  persons. 

In  examining  the  moon,  it  rarely  happens  that  twenty  ladies 
and  gentlemen  agree  in  their  estimate  of  its  apparent  diameter. 
To  one  or  two  it  may  seem  about  two  feet  across  its  face. 
Others  are  quite  sure  it  is  all  of  a  yard,  and  possibly,  it  scarcely 
appears  much  larger  than  Venus  to  another. 

By  practice, — beginning,  for  example,  in  early  childhood 
with  the  alphabet,  and  gradually  learning  to  read  with  facility 
— the  visual  organs  are  trained  so  systematically,  that  we  usually 
all  have  a  focal  point  of  clear  and  distinct  vision  at  the  ordinary 
distance  at  which  a  book  is  held  for  reading.  Our  eyes  are 
systematically  educated,  as  our  legs  for  walking,  or  our  tongues 
for  articulating  words. 

Beginning  in  childhood,  we  insensibly  instruct  our  organs 
of  sense  and  our  muscles,  and  finally  they  all  harmonize  at  last ; 
and  judgment,  which  distinguishes  man  above  all  the  races 
below  him,  is  perfect  or  defective,  according  to  the  develop- 
ment of  all  the  powers  which  belong  to  his  physical  organiza- 
tion. Perpetual  repetitions  of  the  movement  give  to  each  and 
all  those  parts  controlled  by  our  volition,  the  perfection  which 
they  may  attain. 

In  early  youth  there  may  be  some  rigidity  of  the  cornea, 
which  does  not  readily  yield  to  the  training.  If  the  curvature 
is  too  prominent  for  seeing  at  ordinary  distances,  most  con- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN  249 

venient  for  looking  at  a  page,  and  practice  in  trying  to  see  at 
that  convenient  distance  is  not  successful,  there  is  near-sighted- 
ness. 


When  just  that  condition  has  been  ascertained,  parents  and 
the  near-sighted  child  too  hastily  resort  to  concave  glasses.  If 
they  would  resolutely  insist  upon  an  unremitting  effort  to  do 
without  them,  their  eyes  would  gradually  accommodate  them- 
selves to  the  task  imposed,  and  vastly  improve. 

Prematurely  putting  on  glasses  arrests  the  progress  of 
adaptation,  which  would  very  certainly  take  place,  although  in 
every  instance  it  might  not  become  entirely  satisfactory.  The 
experiment,  however,  is  worth  trying. 

Avoid  glasses  as  long  as  possible,  whether  short  or  long 
sighted,  and  thus  allow  the  instrument  to  adjust  itself  to 
circumstances.  The  eyes  of  all  land-seeing  animals  are  con- 
structed upon  the  same  principle  as  our  own.  Light  is  admitted 
into  the  back  region  through  the  pupil,  and  there  produces  the 
same  impression  as  it  does  in  men  and  women.  There  is  very 
little,  if  any,  real  difference  discoverable  in  the  anatomical 
structure  in  day-seeing  eyes.  But  those  of  wild  animals  wear 
longer  without  becoming  impaired,  than  the  eyes  of  domesticated 
animals  or  man,  simply  because  they  act  in  conformity  to  natural 
laws.  Daylight,  while  they  are  ranging  over  fields  carpeted  in 
green,  or  forests  in  which  dazzling  rays  cannot  act  directly  upon 
them,  favors  them  exceedingly. 

Oculists  and  spectacle-manufacturers  are  reluctant  to  admit 
the  existence  of  this  law  of  ocular  adaptation,  which  is  quite  as 
readily  demonstrated  as  many  other  problems  of  less  importance. 


250  THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN. 

Vision  OF  AGE. 

Before  spectacles  were  invented,  there  is  good  reason  for 
believing  that  people  had  better  eyesight  than  since.  Historians 
speak  of  the  blind,  but  nowhere  is  there  a  lamentation  over  the 
waning  vision  of  old  age  as  in  modern  times. 

When,  in  consequence  of  advancing  age,  glasses  are  resorted 
to,  they  must  afterwards  be  continued.  The  eye  seems  to  lose 
its  power  of  adaptation  to  varying  circumstances,  whenever  arti- 
ficial aid  is  provided.  In  other  words,  if  glasses  are  prematurely 
worn — and  they  generally  are  prematurely  put  on,  according  to 
our  theory — they  cannot  afterwards  be  laid  aside  without  in- 
convenience. 

When  the  time  comes,  as  it  does  in  the  life  of  each  of  us, 
that  the  eye  is  less  prominent  than  it  was  in  youth,  vision  is 
less  distinct  than  before,  and  we  meet  that  flattening  of  the 
cornea  by  convex  glasses,  which  apparently  enlarges  the  letters 
of  a  book,  and  therefore  they  are  more  distinct. 

That  is  precisely  the  period  to  resist  the  aid  of  glasses.  Have 
patience,  and  regularly  exercise  the  eyes  to  reading  at  the  same 
convenient  distance  they  were  formerly  used,  and  they  will, 
after  a  while,  return  to  their  primitive  convexity. 

Will-force  produces  extraordinary  results.  Even  pulsations 
of  the  heart  have  been  suspended  by  it,  and  the  organ  again  set 
in  motion  by  the  same  agency. .  It  is  even  claimed  that  it  is 
possible  to  exert  that  mysterious  nervous  energy,  so  as  to  posi- 
tively control  the  volitions  of  others. 

With  the  approach  of  old  age,  there  is  a  gradual  relaxation 
of  all  the  tissues  of  the  body.  Those  of  the  eye  lose  their 
former  tension,  and  the  secretion  and  removal  of  the  fluids 
within  the  globe  on  which  the  refraction  of  light  depends,  as 
also  the  chromatic  perfection  of  the  picture  on  the  retinal  can- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  251 

vas,  is  sluggishly  performed.  But  if  we  urge  them  to  the 
performance  of  their  office,  they  begin  to  receive  more  vital  in- 
fluence, and  readapt  themselves  to  the  work  demanded  of  them. 
In  short,  the  determination  and  persistency  of  effort  may  be 
crowned  with  success. 

Without  burdening  these  pages  with  narratives  of  eminent 
success  by  pursuing  this  .course,  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  say  that 
failures  would  be  few  in  making  the  experiment,  if  those  who 
are  making  it  would  on  no  account  deviate  from  the  direc- 
tions proposed. 

After  weeks  of  hope,  without  apparent  amelioration,  two- 
thirds  of  those  who  may  have  commenced  with  a  strong  reso- 
lution to  be  thorough  in  their  attempt  at  visual  restoration, 
become  impatient  and  fly  to  glasses,  and  then  doubt  the  possi- 
bility of  seeing  without  them  in  after  periods  of  life. 

Professed  oculists  are  the  bitterest  foes  with  which  the  ad- 
vocate for  having  nature  consulted  first,  comes  in  contact.  To 
a  man,  they  recommend  glasses  number  one,  two,  three,  and  so 
on,  with  a  farago  of  nonsensical  reasons  for  favoring  the  eye 
when  it  requires  no  such  aid. 

DUBATIOtf   OF  VISION. 

Our  eyes  were  designed  to  last  as  long  as  the  sense  of  hear- 
ing, taste,  or  our  fingers  and  toes ;  and  they  would,  were  they 
not  culpably  abused  and  overworked  by  the  customs  and 
habits. 

Blue  eyes  are  thought  best  adapted  for  all  climates.  Black 
predominates  in  tropical  and  semi-tropical  countries.  The 
farther  north,  the  lighter  the  blue  shade ;  and  it  is  among  the 
blue-eyed  that  the  fewest  glasses  are  worn,  according  to  the 
observation  of  travellers.  Such  eyes  possess  qualities  for  a  more 
distinct  vision,  all  other  things  being  equal. 


252  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

Black  eyes  are  lustrous,  and  carry  with  them  an  intensity  of 
facial  expression  superior  to  gray,  or  any  of  the  lighter  shades 
of  color.  Black,  hazel,  etc.,  if  not  quite  as  liable  to  cataracts,  or 
less  formidable  opacities,  fail  earlier  than  blue,  subjected  to  the 
same  treatment  of  brilliantly-illuminated  rooms,  bright  blazing 
firelight,  gas  jets,  and  similar  sources  of  injury. 

There  are  beautiful  blue-eyed  ladies  with  blonde  hair.  The 
iris  and  hair  generally  are  alike  in  color.  When  eyes  are  too 
light-colored  to  be  sparkling,  the  hair  is  ordinarily  yellow, 
and  the  brows  thin  and  colorless. 

"With  heavy  dark  eyebrows  and  black  eyes,  the  expression 
is  strong,  and  not  unfrequently  imposing. 

Pretty  female  faces,  with  small  eyes,  cannot  be  roused  into 
a  look  of  majesty,  although  capable  of  inspiring  poetical 
sentiment. 

A  tragic  face  must  have  full  black  eyes.  A  tragedian  with 
light  eyes  must  rely  more  upon  costume  for  success  than  on  his 
features.  A  grand,  imposing  actor,  male  or  female,  must  either 
possess  dark  eyes,  or  divert  the  attention  of  the  theatre  by  arti- 
ficial devices — voice,  dress,  and  gesture  being  the  handiest 
instrumentalities. 

There  are  actors  whose  faces  alone,  without  the  utterance 
of  a  single  word,  set  an  audience  in  ^a  roar  of  laughter.  And 
there  are  also  players  of  another  grade,  who  command  a  spon- 
taneous burst  of  applause  the  moment  they  come  in  sight  upon 
the  stage,  before  they  have  uttered  a  word. 

With  a  continuance  of  the  present  fashion,  raging  among 
young  ladies,  to  be  peering  through  eyeglasses,  not  in  any 
respect  necessary,  and  universally  known  to  be  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  the  wearer  an  imagined  improved  personal  appearance, 
twenty  years  hence  there  will  be  some  singular  anomalies  in 
female  vision.  There  will  be  elderly  ladies  whose  two  eyes 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  253 

will  not  agree  in  focal  axis.  One  eye  will  be  long  and  the 
other  short-sighted,  the  effect  of  squinting  through  a  glass  with 
one  while  the  other  is  closed. 

Possibly  the  difficulty  may  then  be  met  by  wearing  glasses 
whose  convexities  are  segments  of  spheres  of  different 
diameters. 

It  is  for  the  future  comfort,  as  it  is  for  the  preservation  of 
their  good  looks,  for  ladies  to  use  their  eyes  as  they  were 
intended  to  be  used,  together  and  not  one  at  a  time. 

This  unaccountable  propensity  for  glasses,  and  to  use  them 
on  the  most  frivolous  pretences,  has  been  a  direct  cause  of 
thousands  of  defective  eyes. 

Since  the  introduction  of  gaslight  in  dwellings,  various 
inroads  upon  vision  have  been  recognized  that  were  unknown 
in  the  days  of  candles  and  lamps.  Oculists  find  their  support  in 
cities,  particularly  where  gas  and  glasses  are  in  the  ascendant, 
and  not  in  the  country,  where  primitive  customs  still  prevail  in 
respect  to  lighting  apartments. 

Reading  or  sewing  by  gaslight,  which  is  too  brilliant,  requir- 
ing protecting  apparatus  for  shading  the  eyes,  is  far  more  trying 
to  them  than  the  old-fashioned  lights.  The  oxygen  of  the  room 
is  rapidly  consumed  by  gas-burners,  leaving  a  sort  of  smarting 
sensation  and  a  more  rapid  evaporation  of  the  tears.  We  rub 
them,  unconsciously,  which  promotes  a  more  copious  lachrymal 
secretion,  which  is  temporary  relief. 

Drummond  lights,  gas  reflectors,  or  a  profusion  of  mirrors, 
gilded  frames,  and  other  reflecting  surfaces  in  gas-lighted  apart- 
ments in  common  family  occupancy,  are*  extremely  injurious. 
Such  continued  stimulus  of  concentrated  luminous  rays  produces 
internal  inflammations  of  delicate  tissues,  and  engorgements  of 
vessels,  which  culminate  in  defective  vision.  All  these  sources 
of  derangement  give  importance  to  ophthalmic  surgery. 


254  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

Gazing  at  grates  of  red-hot  coal,  as  many  do  in  their 
moments  of  mental  abstraction,  examining  pictures  by  a  vivid 
light  through  a  strong  magnifier,  sitting  in  rooms  habitually 
draped  and  carpeted  in  bright  scarlet  colors,  and  reading  in 
rapidly  moving  cars, — are  all  of  them  destructive  to  distinct 
vision,  and  should  be  carefully  avoided. 

Furniture  upholstered  with  dark  colors,  and  carpets  and 
curtains  in  which  those  shades  predominate,  are  of  far  more 
importance  where  there  are  children,  than  has  been  suspected. 
Weak  eyes,  and  even  severe  maladies,  are  sometimes  due  to 
such  unsuspected  sources. 


CHAPTER   XX. 
THEIK  TEETH. 

Hereditarily  Good  or  Defective — Hot  Food — Smoking — Use  no  Dentifrices  of 
a  Doubtful  Character — Those  most  Useful — Quack  Dentists — Employ 
Men  of  Science— Cause  of  Caries — A  National  Characteristic,  etc.,  etc. 

MANY  allusions  and  cautions  have  already  been  given  in 
regard  to  the  preservation  of  the  teeth.  But  some  more  ex- 
tended observations  may  be  of  service  to  those  who  have  not 
given  much  attention  to  the  subject. 

A  hereditary  tendency  to  an  early  loss  of  those  important 
organs  is  quite  common ;  and  when  it  does  exist,  no  course  of 
medication  is  of  much  value  in  arresting  the  progress  of  decay. 
It  is  possible  to  retard  their  early  destruction  by  precautionary 
measures,  but  they  cannot  be  saved  in  their  original  appearance 
of  strength  and  beauty  of  structure. 

It  is  within  the  course  of  general  observation  that  defective 
teeth  are  more  common  in  towns  than  the  country.  Different 
systems  of  cookery,  condiments,  and  seasonings,  together  with 
the  custom  of  taking  coffee,  tea,  chocolate,  and  almost  every 
dish  that  comes  upon  a  table  very  warm,  if  not  really  hot,  are 
just  so  many  agencies  acting  directly  upon  the  enamel,  till 
openings  are  made  through  it  to  the  bony  structure  of  the  body 
of  the  teeth. 

Hot  food,  ravenous  haste  in  eating  under  the  plea  of  urgency 
of  business,  and  hot  drinks  habitually,  are  unfavorable  to  the 
health  of  human  teeth.  If  by  their  organization  they  resist 
such  influences '  through  a  long  life,  as  they  do  with  some 


256  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

persons,  it  only  proves  their  powers  of  resistance  are  stronger 
in  some  than  in  others. 

The  tendency  of  hot  food  and  table-drinks  is  to  disease  the 
gums  rather  than  the  teeth  themselves,  in  those  in  whom  they 
remain  sound,  but  seem  to  rise  slowly  out  of  their  sockets  in 
elderly  persons.  They  are  also  thrown  off  by  the  absorption 
of  the  bony  cell  in  which  the  fangs  are  imbedded. 

Each  root  has  a  minute  orifice  at  its  extreme  point,  through 
which  enters  a  nerve,  an  artery,  and  by  their  side,  a  vein  to 
bring  back  the  blood  sent  in  by  the  artery. 

In  the  body  of  the  tooth  is  a  cavity  in  which  the  nerve  ex- 
pands in  a  delicate  plexus,  which  is  the  seat  of  exquisite  pain 
when  invaded,  in  consequence  of  the  crumbling  away  of  the 
walls  which  protected  it. 

DESTKUCTION  OF  THE  ENAMEL. 

No  branch  of  the  dental  profession  has  exercised  the  mechan- 
ical ingenuity  of  operators  more  than  devising  methods  for 
preventing  that  calamity.  If  consulted  early,  when  the  first 
approaches  of  caries  are  discoverable,  the  arrest  of  the  disease 
should  be  tried.  Gold-fillings  have  the  approval  of  the  most 
experienced  dentists.  Yarious  substitutes  have  been  prepared 
and  had  a  trial,  but  gold  holds  its  reputation  for  superiority, 
and  is  not  likely  to  be  superseded.  Why  it  is  better  than  amal- 
gams, artificial  bone-paste,  tin,  or  any  other  metallic  filling, 
must  be  sought  for  in  the  publications  and  teaching  of  dental 
associations  and  colleges. 

Through  those  decayed  openings,  sugar,  cold  water,  etc., 
cause  excruciating  misery.  When  the  pulp  has  been  once  in- 
vaded, it  is  rarely  ever  afterwards  so  secured  as  not  to  give  fre- 
quent intimations  of  its  sensitiveness. 

Cracking  nuts  with  the  teeth,  by  no  means  an  uncommon 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  257 

vulgarity,  is  an  abuse  that  may  derange  their  connection  in  the 
sockets.  There  are  so  many  ways  of  impairing  the  utility  of 
teeth,  it  is  quite  hopeless  to  attempt  enumerating  them. 

Domesticated  animals  fed  on  warm  slops  at  distilleries,  on 
kitchen  refuse  warmed  and  thickened  with  meal,  with  an  ex- 
pectation of  increasing  the  quantity  of  milk — quite  common 
with  families  keeping  a  single  cow — do  their  pet  incalculable 
injury.  Cracks  and  exfoliations  of  the  enamel  follow  such 
feeding.  The  perpendicular  chisels  that  stand  up  in  their 
teeth,  of  pure  hard  enamel,  crumble  and  become  black.  Cold 
food  is  safest  for  them. 

TOBACCO. 

An  unfortunate  opinion  prevails  extensively,  that  chewing 
tobacco  preserves  teeth.  It  is  a  popular  error  that  has  made 
many  a  toothless  jaw.  Grit,  inseparable  from  the  weed  in 
curing,  gradually  wears  down  the  teeth  by  the  constant  grind- 
ing motion,  so  that  some  men  are  met  with  in  whom  the  tops 
of  the  teeth  are  nearly  level  with  their  tumid  gums. 

Women,  happily,  are  not  prone  to  that  abominable,  filthy 
vice  of  chewing  tobacco ;  but  they  occasionally  indulge  in  some 
of  the  Southern  portions  of  this  country  in  habits  as  reprehen- 
sible and  obnoxious.  They  rub  their  gums  with  pulverized 
tobacco  till  it  produces  an  agreeable  sensation  something  like 
inhaling  a  few  inspirations  of  chloroform.  It  is  applied  artist- 
ically with  a  brush,  quite  frequently  when  the  habit  has  been 
established.  Ladies  smoke  in  Cuba.  Some  dilapidated  females 
practise  the  same  disgusting  custom  with  us,  but  that  circum- 
stance does  not  lessen  the  objections  that  might  be  arrayed 
against  it. 

Tobacco-chewing  is  exceedingly  offensive  to  those  who  do 
not  use  it.  Chewers  are  nuisances  everywhere,  and  especially 


258  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

in  public  conveyances  and  private  houses.  Floors  saturated 
with  saliva,  charged  with  tobacco  and  spittoons — an  American 
contrivance  for  protecting  carpets — are  sources  of  disease. 
Breathing  air  in  apartments  where  evaporation  of  such  narcotic 
filth  is  going  on,  must  be  exceedingly  prejudicial,  and,  if  care- 
fully investigated,  no. doubt,  would  be  found  to  be  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  strange  effects  upon  individuals  of  delicate 
organizations. 

There  are  women  who  virtually  unsex  themselves  by  copy- 
ing the  habits  of  men  of  low  degree,  in  the  use  of  tobacco. 
Taking  snuff  is  one  of  their  bad  imitations.  It  is  considered 
unfortunate  not  to  be  handsome ;  and  old  age  with  its  wrinkles, 
is  dreaded  by  all  women.  But  that  a  homely  one  should  take 
to  snuff  is  perfectly  surprising,  as  she  thus  forfeits  all  hope  of 
being  an  object  of  interest,  even  to  a  Hottentot. 

DENTIFRICES. 

Place  no  confidence  in  dentifrices,  the  composition  of  which 
is  a  secret.  In  this  age  of  science  it  is  a  privilege  to  know 
precisely  what  we  use  as  food,  in  food,  and  for  medicine.  It  is 
prudent  to  know  too,  what  we  are  using  for  our  teeth. 

When  preparations  for  cleaning  teeth  are  secret  composi- 
tions, beware  of  them.  Probably  they  contain  an  acid  that 
would  gnaw  into  the  enamel,  or  discolor  the  teeth  beyond  the 
possibility  of  restoration  to  their  primitive  whiteness. 

Teeth  should  not  be  brushed  either  with  pulverized  char- 
coal or  pumice-stone,  yet  both  are  largely  sold  for  that  purpose. 
They  insensibly  wear  away  the  enamel.  To  file  off*  dark  spots 
would  be  precisely  analogous,  only  the  latter  would  be  quickly 
accomplished,  while  the  other  would  be  a  gradual  process. 
Thus  fluids  would  reach  the  bony  structure,  followed  by  dis- 
coloration, decay,  and  tooth-ache. 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  259 

Detergent  soaps  are  allowable,  being  soft  and  free  from  grit. 
With  a  soft,  flexible  brush,  soap,  with  cold  water,  removes  ad- 
hering particles  of  food,  and  prevents  the  accumulation  of  tartar 
about  the  margin  of  the  gums. 

Immediately  on  leaving  the  table,  it  should  be  an  estab- 
lished habit  to  cleanse  one's  teeth  in  that  manner.  Spasmodic 
attentions  are  to  no  purpose.  Doing  it  when  the  thought 
occurs  that  they  have  been  neglected,  does  but  little  good.  It 
is  by  daily  care  that  they  are  preserved. 

When  omitting  to  brush  the  teeth,  even  for  a  few  days,  with 
some  persons,  parasites  actually  barrow  about  their  necks,  and 
build  up  strong  domiciles  of  calcareous  matter,  which  destroys 
the  periostic  connections  between  them  and  their  alveolar 
sockets. 

Tartar,  as  it  is  called,  a  product  almost  as  hard  as  coral, 
inhabited,  too,  by  minute  beings,  which,  under  a  microscope, 
exhibit  active  habits,  should  not  be  permitted  to  establish  colo- 
nies in  the  mouth. 

DENTISTS. 

When  caries  appears,  consult  a  dentist,  and  be  careful  to 
employ  no  second-rate  one,  because  his  charges  are  low.  There 
are  dental  institutions  and  colleges  where  the  whole  art  and 
science  of  dentistry  is  taught  thoroughly.  Allow  no  cheap 
operator  to  prescribe  or  place  an  instrument  on  the  teeth. 
Neither  permit  amalgams  of  mercury,  copper,  lead,  or  indeed 
any  filling,  to  be  pressed  into  a  hollow  tooth,  which  has  not  the 
approval  of  the  magnates  of  the  profession. 

There  are  quack  dentists,  who  rank  next  to  quack  doctors. 
Risk  neither  health,  teeth,  nor  purse  with  either.  Strange  as  it 
may  appear,  there  are  thousands  who  place  themselves  at  the 


260  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

mercy  of  medical  and  dental  pretenders,  who  would  trust 
neither  with  their  wallets. 

A  gentleman  of  New  York,  a  little  time  since,  consulted  a 
medical  gentleman  on  account  of  sore,  inflamed  gums,  tongue 
and  fauces.  They  had  resisted  a  variety  of  medications  till  the 
gravity  of  the  case  alarmed  the  patient,  and  almost  destroyed 
his  confidence  in  the  science  of  medicine. 

After  examination,  shocked  at  the  raw,  inflamed  appearance 
of  the  patient's  mouth,  looking  as  though  burned,  the  doctor 
inquired  whether  he  had  any  defective  teeth.  On  reflection, 
he  remembered  that  he  had  never  discovered  but  a  single  decay 
in  one  of  the  back  teeth,  a  long  while  before,  which  was 
promptly  filled,  so  that  his  teeth  might  be  considered  perfectly 
sound. 

The  physician  at  once  suspected  the  cause  of  such  extensive 
disease  of  the  mucous  membrane  had  its  origin  there,  and 
advised  the  immediate  removal  of  the  filling,  and  refilling  with 
gold.  His  recovery  and  perfect  restoration  was  immediate, 
showing  there  was  a  metallic  poison  in  the  first  filling  that  had 
caused  him  so  much  inconvenience  and  suffering. 


NATIONALITIES  IN  REGARD  TO  TEETH. 

Dr.  John  Allen,  a  learned,  skilful  dentist  of  New  York, 
has  collected  an  immense  amount  of  valuable  information 
respecting  the  history  of  teeth. 

The  body  of  a  man,  says  Dr.  Allen,  with  all  its  different 
parts,  is  composed  of  only  a  few  simple  materials  combined  in 
certain  proportions  to  give  strength  and  utility  to  the  whole 
structure.  Those  materials  are  component  parts  of  the  food, 
and,  although  nutrient  substances  used  by  the  inhabitants  of 
different  parts  of  the  globe,  appear  quite  similar,  yet  the  food 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  261 

provided  for  them  in  various  countries  possesses  the  same  general 
constituents  everywhere  essential  to  human  organism. 

Albanians  of  lesser  Asia  live  principally  on  milk,  cheese, 
eggs,  olives,  and  vegetables.  Sometimes  they  bake  bread,  but 
often  eat  their  corn  or  maize  boiled.  Hippocrates  says  they 
were  very  strong  in  his  day.  Muscular,  with  oval  faces,  ruddy 
cheeks,  and  an  animated  eye.  They  had  well-proportioned 
mouths  and  fine  teeth. 

In  Central  America,  north  of  the  Equator,  the  Mandingos 
have  a  barbarous  custom  of  filing  their  front  teeth  to  a  point. 
The  same  extraordinary  operation  is  extensively  practised 
among  tribes  in  various  parts  of  pagan  Africa. 

In  Eastern  Africa,  particularly,  the  Abyssinians  have  beau- 
tiful teeth,  white  and  regular.  Nubians,  and  residents  of 
countries  between  Abyssinia  and  Egypt,  distinguished  for  per- 
sonal symmetry,  having  a  dark-brown  complexion,  also  are 
remarkable  for  their  sound,  white,  strong  teeth. 

In  "Western  Africa,  and  »also  in  parts  of  Southern  Africa, 
including  Congo,  the  negroes  are  well  made,  extremely  black, 
but  noted  for  their  superior  teeth. 

A  people  of  that  same  vast  continent,  known  as  Khonds,  of 
a  dark  color,  straight  and  well-proportioned,  are  also  remarkable 
for  teeth  of  a  pearly  whiteness. 

Turkish  tribes  of  Kiptschak,  the  Tartars  of  Kasan,  and 
all  through  that  extensive  region  in  the  occupancy  of  bold, 
warlike,  indomitably  active  men,  are  quite  as  celebrated  for 
fine  teeth  as  for  their  martial  energy  and  determination  of 
character. 

Travellers  represent  the  inhabitants  of  Eastern  Arabia  as 
being  above  the  average  stature  of  Europeans  of  a  temperate 
zone.  They  are  robust  and  active.  With  oval  faces,  copper- 
colored  broad  foreheads,  black,  bushy  eyebrows,  dark  eyes, 


262  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

quick  and  restless,  their  sound  white  teeth  are  a  remarkable 
national  characteristic. 

Arabs  generally  have  sound  teeth,  even  in  the  jaws,  and 
rarely  irregular.  Unless  addicted  to  chewing  betel,  they  wear 
through  a  long  life  unimpaired. 

Between  China  and  Hindostan,  the  Siamese  blacken  their 
teeth,  and  also  redden  the  inside  of  their  mouths  with  a  masti- 
catory of  lime,  caoutchouc,  and  betel, which  (says  Dr.  Allen),  gives 
them  a  disgusting  appearance. 

Betel-chewing  is  practised  extensively  among  the  fellahs  of 
Upper  Egypt.  Their  lips  and  gums  look  as  though  they  had 
been  recently  burned  with  a  hot  iron.  Their  teeth  wear  down 
level  with  the  gums  in  a  few  years. 

Tahitans  have  splendidly  developed  teeth,  but  they  have  an 
abominable  custom  of  interfering  with  them,  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances— such  as  extracting  some  of  them.  If  unmolested, 
they  endure  white  and  perfect  to  extreme  old  age. 

New  Zealanders  do  not  exceed  the  common  stature  of  , 
Europeans,  and,  in  general,  are  not  so  well  made  about  the 
limbs.  Their  color  is  of  a  different  cast,  varying  from  a  pretty 
deep  black  to  yellowish,  with  tolerably  regular  features.  Their 
faces  are  round,  with  full  lips,  large  eyes,  black  hair,  straight 
and  strong.  Like  most  barbarians,  their  teeth  are  broad,  fully 
developed,  and  white. 

Capt.  Fitzroy  says  of  the  New  Zealanders,  they  are  like 
those  of  the  Tangians  in  regard  to  their  dental  apparatus.  In 
old  age  they  are  either  all  worn  down,  or  present  an  anomalous 
appearance. 

Those  natives  residing  near  hot  sulphurous  springs  or  sul- 
phur waters,  on  the  borders  of  the  lake  of  Roturna,  have  enamel 
on  their  front  teeth  yellow,  although  that  does  not  impair  their 
soundness. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  263 

To  the  eastward  of  the  Society  Islands,  in  the  South  Pacific, 
are  the  Gambier  Islands.  They  are  inhabited  by  a  people  fairer 
than  the  Sandwich  Islanders.  The  average  height  of  the  men 
is  about  that  of  Englishmen,  but  they  are  not  very  robust.  In 
their  muscles  there  is  a  flabbiness,  and  in  old  men  a  laxity  of 
integuments :  their  skin  hangs  in  folds  on  different  parts  of  the 
body.  They  have  Asiatic  countenances,  with  extremely  white 
teeth ;  but  they  are  represented  to  fall  out  at  an  early  period. 

In  Easter  Island,  the  most  remote  from  the  continent  of  all 
inhabited  islands  on  the  earth,  there  are  finely  developed  in- 
habitants, with  excellent  features.  The  women  are  particularly 
handsome.  Such  beautiful  teeth  are  nowhere  else  to  be  found. 
In  the  San  War  group  of  islands,  all  the  natives  have  superb 
teeth.  The  Tarawan  Islands,  abounding  in  cocoanuts,  fish, 
guava,  banian  trees,  and  sugar  cane,  the  people  have  sound, 
white  teeth. 

The  Great  Yita,  one  of  a  group  of  islands  between  the 
fifth  and  nineteenth  degrees  south  latitude,  the  inhabitants 
are  celebrated  for  their  sound  teeth.  So  are  the  Feejeans. 
In  fact,  it  has  been  the  remark  of  voyagers  generally,  that 
the  teeth  of  those  distant  islanders  are  always  sound,  white, 
and  nearly  as  perfect  as  such  organs  can  be,  and  remain  so  to 
extreme  old  age. 

Yanikora,  another  cluster  of  islands,  is  inhabited  by  a 
black  race,  who  cultivate  taro,  iguanas,  and  kava.  Although 
small  in  size,  they  approach  the  negro  in  general  physical 
appearance  and  organization,  with  countenances  singularly 
resembling  the  ourang-outang, — their  eyes  being  large,  deeply 
set,  and  very  much  like  those  of  the  genuine  negro  of  the 
tropics.  Their  lips  are  large  and  their  hair  crisp.  An  in- 
veterate use  of  betel  destroys  their  teeth  early,  which  would 
last  as  long  as  those  of  the  islanders  of  whom  we  have  been 


264:  THE   WAYS   OF  WOMEN. 

speaking,  were  it  not  for  the  vice  of  chewing  that  abominable 
product  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  which  destroys  them. 

The  natives  of  Australia  differ  from  every  other  race  of 
men  in  features,  complexion,  habits,  and  language.  They  have 
black  hair,  a  cinnamon  colored  skin,  and  a  dilated  nose,  with 
high  cheek-bones — often  an  elongated  upper  jaw,  with  large 
sound  teeth,  very  rarely  defective  in  any  respect. 

Throughout  South  America,  and  everywhere  on  the  Pacific, 
all  tribes  which  have  been  met  with  from  the  earliest  period  of 
Spanish  exploration,  are  distinguished  for  sound  teeth.  Ex- 
humed skulls  exhibiting  a  condition  of  the  ancestors  of  all  the 
tribes  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  before  any  of  them  were 
known  to  European  navigators,  show  what  perfect  teeth  they 
had  when  living.  Even  after  a  lapse  of  ten  centuries,  they  are 
still  white,  sound,  and  powerfully  strong. 

All  aborigines  of  North  America  had  sound,  white  teeth. 
Natives  of  Eastern  Patagonia,  according  to  Dr.  Allen's  memo- 
randa, are  a  tall,  extremely  stout  race  of  men.  They  are  of  a 
rich  brown,  rather  of  a  reddish  tint,  with  broad  heads,  rather 
flat  on  the  top,  a  large  mouth,  thick  lips,  and  prodigiously 
strong  teeth.  In  one  of  the  islands  in  the  Magellanic  archi- 
pelago, where  the  men  are  not  more  than  five  feet  tall  on  an 
average,  they  are  quite  as  remarkable  as  any  race  yet  dis- 
covered, for  white,  sound,  well-proportioned  teeth. 

In  such  estimation  are  sound  teeth  among  some  South 
American  Indians,  that  they  actually  wear  collars  ornamented 
with  them.  Those  strange  appendages  of  humanity  are  called 
Botacudos.  The  Chaymas,  another  wild  race,  very  analagous 
in  physical  appearance  and  similar  in  the  practice  of  rites  and 
ceremonies,  in  the  estimation  of  Humboldt,  leading  a  very 
simple  life,  have  fine  white  teeth. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  265 

CIVILIZATION  IN  KEFEBENCE  TO  TEETH. 

Civilization  has  been  destructive  to  teeth.  A  few,  out  of 
many,  resist  those  influences  which  bring  on  premature  decay ; 
but  a  majority  of  the  population  throughout  the  United  States 
have  either  lost  some  or  the  whole  in  both-  jaws.  Where  are 
we  to  look  for  a  cause  of  such  universally  defective  teeth  ? 

Dr.  Allen  is  emphatic  in  denouncing  the  flour  of  which  our 
bread  is  usually  made,  as  the  reason  why  teeth  fall  into  decay. 
If  flour  were  not  bolted,  but  baked  as  it  comes  from  between 
the  stones  in  grinding,  elements  essential  to  the  growth  and 
reparation  of  the  teeth  would  be  disposed  of  in  the  system  for 
their  benefit.  But  the  phosphate  of  lime,  existing  alone  in  the 
bran,  is  completely  taken  out  in  the  process  of  bolting,  leaving 
nothing  for  the  teeth.  That  is  fed  to  horses,  swine,  and  cattle, 
whose  teeth  get  the  benefit  of  it,  while  we  seek  assistance  of 
dentists,  which  would  not  be  necessary,  had  we  subsisted  on 
food  that  had  not  been  deprived  of  elements  introduced  in  it 
to  keep  the  teeth  in  sound  working  order. 

Dr.  Allen,  closing  his  valuable  researches  on  the  anatomy 
and  general  economy  of  the  teeth,  expresses  himself  as 
follows : — 

"  According  to  our  national  statistics— 1860 — there  were  in 
the  United  States,  13,868  milling  establishments  for  the 
manufacture  of  flour  and  meal,  requiring  27,626  men,  at  an 
annual  cost  for  labor  of  $8,721,391.  Thus  you  see  the  number 
of  men,  mills,  bolting-cloths,  and  dollars,  that  are  employed  in 
this  great  improvement  devised  by  man  for  changing  the  pro- 
portions of  one  of  the  most  important  constituents  in  the 
country. 

"  The  result  of  ignoring  this  mineral  element  from  the  staff 
of  life  is,  undoubtedly,  to  a  great  extent,  one  of  the  most  pro- 


266  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

minent  causes  of  this  national  calamity  (poor  teeth),  that 
sweeps  from  the  population  20,000,000  of  teeth  every  year. 

"  The  potter  cannot  make  the  bowl  without  the  clay,  neither 
can  good  teeth  be  formed  without  a  due  proportion  of  lime, 
which  is  abundantly  provided  for  our  use  upon  the  outer  portion 
of  the  grain ;  and  in  rejecting  'that  portion  of  the  cereals,  we 
virtually  refuse  to  use  the  requisite  materials  of  which  the  teeth 
are  formed.  We  also  deprive  ourselves  of  a  due  proportion  of 
atmospheric  constituents,  especially  in  our  crowded  cities.  And 
also  of  the  requisite  amount  of  exercise  to  promote  vigorous 
health  and  good  constitutions.  If  we  would  be  instrumental 
in  doing  more  good  in  our  profession,  let  us  do  all  in  our  power 
to  diffuse  these  important  truths  among  the  people." 

In  order  to  form  good  teeth,  the  proper  materials  must  be 
used  to  make  them ;  otherwise  they  will  be  defective  in 
their  structure,  and  liable  to  early  decay. 

The  materials  of  which  good  teeth  are  formed  are  as 
follows : — 

Phosphate  of  lime,  with  traces  of  fluoride  of  calcium 67.72 

Carbonate  of  lime 3.36 

Soluble  salts 0.83 

Cartilage 27.61 

Fat 0.40 

The  enamel  or  external  covering  of  the  teeth  has  a  still 
larger  proportion  of  the  phosphate  and  carbonate  of  lime. 
These  different  constituents  are  furnished  us  in  the  food  de- 
signed for  our  use.  Other  constituents  are  also  thus  provided, 
of  which  the  soft  tissues  are  formed.  Although  there  are 
traces  of  the  mineral  element  in  other  articles  of  diet,  yet  the 
largest  supplies  are  found  in  the  cereals,  in  the  following 
proportions : — 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  267 

In  500  Ibs.  of  whole  grain  (wheat)  there  is 

Muscle  material 78  Ibs. 

Bone  and  teeth  material 85  " 

Fat  principle 12  " 

500  Ibs.  of  fine  flour  contain  muscle  material 65  " 

Bone  and  teeth  material 30  " 

Fat  principle 10  " 

The  Creator  has  not  only  provided  the  proper  materials  for 
building  up  the  human  system  with  all  its  parts,  but  he  has 
also  given  us  a  fixed  standard  of  proportions  for  each  material 
to  be  used,  which  we  should  recognize  as  correct ;  but  instead 
of  doing  so,  we  change  the  proportions  of  the  mineral  element 
(which  is  deposited  in  the  outer  portion  of  the  grain)  by  bolting 
out  nearly  two-thirds  of  it  from  every  barrel  of  flour,  and  dis- 
carding it  from  the  staff  of  life,  simply  because  it  is  the  fashion 
to  have  our  bread  made  of  the  finest  flour,  that  it  may  be  white 
instead  of  dark. 

Now,  it  is  estimated  that  a  healthy  child  consumes  half  a 
barrel  of  flour  in  a  year ;  and  if  this  be  fine,  white  flour,  the 
child  is  denied  twenty  pounds  a  year  of  that  portion  of  the 
grain  which  contains  the  proper  materials  for  bones  and  teeth. 
This  deficiency  of  the  mineral  element  in  the  food  causes  the 
teeth  to  be  comparatively  soft  and  chalky  in  their  structure ; 
and  the  result  is,  in  this  country,  where  fine  flour  is  principally 
used  for  bread,  there  is  not  one  in  twenty  without  more  or  less 
decayed  teeth  before  they  have  passed  the  morning  of  life.  On 
the  other  hand,  those  nations  who  do  not  change  the  proportions 
of  the  mineral  constituents  in  their  food,  do  not  lose  their  teeth 
from  decay.  This  fact  is  well  established  by  various  writers 
upon  the  physical  history  of  man,  in  different  parts  of  the 
world,  and  is  a  recognized  principle  of  physiology ;  and  yet,  as 
a  nation,  we  are  regardless  of  the  consequences,  and  sacrifice 


268  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

many  millions  of  teeth  annually.  This  national  calamity  can 
be  prevented  to  a  great  extent  by  simply  popularizing  a  change 
of  fashion.  Let  the  bread  of  this  nation  be  made  from  un- 
bolted flour.  Let  us  cease  to  change  the  fixed  standard  of  pro- 
portions in  the  constituents  from  which  the  teeth  are  made,  and 
then  we  may  expect  these  organs  to  be  well  formed,  and  to 
last  as  long  as  the  other  parts  of  the  system.  If  this  love  of 
fashion  has  too  strong  a  hold  upon  the  public  mind  to  do  this, 
let  parents,  who  regard  the  welfare  of  their  children,  ponder 
well  this  subject,  and  decide  which  is  best  for  their  little  ones — 
fine  flour  or  fine  teeth. 

The  essence  of  all  arguments  advanced  to  prove  that  our 
teeth  decay  prematurely,  in  consequence  of  the  ill-treatment 
they  receive,  has  been  printed  and  promulgated  from  so  many 
reliable  sources,  that  it  is  lamentable  no  heed  is  given  to 
such  important  information. 

Phosphate  of  lime,  which  is  essential  to  the  good  condition 
of  teeth,  is  carefully  sifted  out  of  flour  that  bakers  may  have 
white  bread  to  sell.  The  bran  contains  it.  That  being  con- 
sidered of  no  real  value,  though  a  little  better  than  nothing,  is 
given  to  swine,  cows,  and  horses.  Therefore  there  is  fed  out 
to  domestic  animals  the  most  important  element  in  grain, 
which,  if  used  in  human  food,  would  insure  better  teeth  and  a 
higher  development  of  many  silly  brains. 

Because  this  important  fact  is  of  immense  consequence  to 
remember,  that  parents  may  pursue  a  course  that  might  secure 
sound  teeth  for  their  children,  the  statement,  like  some  other 
physiological  lessons,  has  been  often  repeated  in  the  foregoing 
pages,  at  the  risk  of  being  considered  unnecessarily  tauto- 
logical. 


CHAPTER   XXL 
THEIR  HAIR.' 

How  it  is  Abused — Desquamations — Depilation — Excessive  Growth — Bald- 
ness— Coverings  for  the  Head — Luxuriant  Hair — Preservation — Hair- 
Dyes — Objections  to  them — Effects  of  Lead  Preparations — Sulphur. 

WOMEN  have  fewer  vices  than  men,  but  they  have  stronger 
prejudices.  "Whoever  or  whatever  is  liked  they  love ;  and  when- 
ever they  hate,  it  is  with  the  spite  of  a  demon. 

The  opinions  of  women  in  regard  to  propriety  and  personal 
appearance  allow  of  no  interference ;  and  in  doing  that  which 
is  actually  detrimental  to  themselves,  if  satisfied  it  is  the  custom 
of  a  majority  of  the  sex,  they  cannot  be  easily  persuaded  to 
change  their  sentiments.  Reasoning  is  of  no  use  with  those 
who  cannot  be  moved  by  arguments  when  they  run  counter  to 
their  wishes. 

Women  bear  misfortune  with  heroism,  but  ridicule  cannot  be 
endured.  Hunger,  thirst,  and  innumerable  privations  are  borne 
with  becoming  fortitude ;  but  when  they  are  objects  of  jest,  in 
the  way  of  derision,  if  no  other  way  of  escape  presents,  suicide 
is  boldly  perpetrated. 

Nothing  quite  so  completely  engrosses  their  thoughts  as 
dress.  It  is  an  idol  of  their  adoration,  and,  therefore,  an  ever- 
present  subject  of  contemplation.  A  woman  unfashionably 
clothed  had  better  be  in  a  tomb,  if  she  has  aspirations  for  posi- 
tion. They  also  worship  jewelry,  especially  in  the  form  of 
rings,  bracelets;  and,  above  all,  diamonds  take  such  hold  of 


270  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

them,  that  they  are  fashionably  considered  anchors  which  will 
hold  a  ship  at  her  moorings  through  all  the  storms  that  threaten 
the  stability  of  social  life. 

One  of  the  first  thoughts  of  a  woman,  whether  a  queen  or  a 
chambermaid  of  a  second-rate  hotel,  is  to  have  her  hair  taste- 
fully dressed.  "Were  the  house  on  fire,  or  an  enemy  sacking 
the  city,  a  true  woman  would  flee  with  reluctance  from  impend- 
ing ruin,  if  her  coiffure  were  unfinished. 

A  woman's  hair  is  an  ornament  which  serves  her  longer 
than  the  flushes  of  health,  and  it  would  remain  beautiful,  thick, 
strong,  and  ornamental  quite  into  advanced  age,  were  it  not 
badly  treated.  Because  they  are  perpetually  doing  something 
to  injure  it,  it  is  spoiled.  As  in  the  practice  of  other  violations 
of  sanitary  laws,  some  individuals  have  such  a  fountain  of 
vitality  as  to  resist  influences  which  destroy  others ;  so  in 
respect  to  the  human  hair.  Some  ladies  are  remarkable  for  its 
profusion  and  fine  color  late  in  life,  while  most  of  the  sisterhood 
contrive  to  thin  it  out  and  destroy  it,  unknowingly,  of  course. 

A  woman's  hair  is  an  ornament,  independently  of  an  im- 
portant service  it  performs  in  her  vital  economy. 

How  INJUKED. 

Because  they  are  always  endeavoring  to  improve  its  appear- 
ance by  unremitting  attentions,  they  are  exceedingly  apt  to 
deprive  themselves  of  the  full  development  of  a  thickly-set 
head  of  hair  by  too  much  manipulation. 

Some  of  the  self-imposed  cares  which  contemplate  an  im- 
provement of  their  personal  appearance,  medicated  washes, 
pomatums,  etc.,  to  their  hair,  do  it  an  injury.  Such  violent 
discipline  as  it  is  subjected  to  with  combs,  not  only  breaks 
individual  hairs,  but  inflammations  are  induced  in  the  scalp 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  271 

which  impair  the  office  of  the  bulbs  by  raking  the  cuticular 
surface  too  severely. 

Females  so  circumstanced  by  their  low  state  of  civilization 
as  to  rarely  dress  their  tangled  locks,  have  an  immense  growth 
of  it.  Squaws,  particularly,  who  are  habitually  bare-headed  in 
all  conditions  of  weather,  not  only  have  a  profusion  of  hair,  but 
it  is  strong,  long,  and  so  well  set,  that  even  combing,  a  process 
only  occasionally  undertaken,  neither  loosens  nor  breaks  it. 
Exposure,  therefore,  to  the  open  air  is  exceedingly  conducive 
to  a  healthy  condition  of  that  natural  covering  of  the  head, 
which  performs  an  office  in  relation  to  the  brain  of  which 
physiologists  have  as  yet  a  very  imperfect  knowledge. 

Not  satisfied  with  giving  a  parallelism  to  hairs  in  combing, 
when  masses  are  twisted  into  cords  or  closely  braided,  the  strain 
given  at  the  roots  not  only  injures  the  cell  from  whence  each 
hair  springs,  but  the  hair  itself  is  maimed,  and,  its  connection 
so  disturbed,  it  becomes  brittle,  breaks  easily,  or  falls  out 
entirely. 

This  explains  how  the  comb  becomes  laden  with  hair  at  each 
repetition  of  combing.  Ladies  are  alarmed  at  it,  and  puzzle 
themselves  for  a  reason  of  such  a  phenomenon.  But  nature 
would  rarely  be  at  fault,  if  its  processes  were  not  grossly  inter- 
fered with  by  ruthless  hands. 

Women  would  become  bald  like  men,  were  their  bonnets  as 
badly  contrived  as  hats  for  excluding  air.  Being  light,  gener- 
ally of  open  work,  which  gives  a  free  ventilation,  perspiration 
escapes,  and  an  increased  temperature  of  retained  air  is  pre- 
vented. Then,  again,  they  seldom  cover  the  head,  even  with 
their  light  feathery  gear,  more  than  a  few  hours  at  a  time  in 
the  course  of  twenty-four  hours.  The  materials  of  which  their 
bonnets  are  fabricated  are  of  a  texture  far  more  favorable 
for  the  protection  of  hair,  or  rather  non-interference  with  it. 


272  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

than  felt  or  stiffened  glazed  pasteboard,  made  impervious  by  a 
coating  of  gum-shellac  in  all  kinds  of  modern  hats. 

HATS. 

A  few  manufacturers,  having  become  enlightened  in  regard 
to  the  importance  of  having  the  same  temperature  within  the 
hat  as  outside,  have  small  orifices  made  in  the  top  or  sides, 
which  no  waj  mar  its  beauty.  Yentilation,  secured  by  small 
apertures,  is  philosophical ;  and  had  hats  been  so  constructed 
from  boyhood,  they  would  probably  have  saved  many  from 
baldness  whose  heads  have  not  a  hair  on  the  top. 

DESQUAMATIOKS. 

Desquamations  of  the  scarfskin,  in  a  mealy,  white  sort  of 
powder,  under  the  common  name  of  dandruff,  is  wholly  due  to  a 
protracted  chronic  inflammation  of  the  scalp.  Successive  crops 
are  thrown  off,  and  they  continue  to  be,  just  as  long  as  the  hair 
is  kept  too  much  on  the  strain,  by  being  pinioned  with  side- 
combs  and  firmly-fixed  pins. 

Whenever  the  slow  state  of  inflammation  continues 
for  a  considerable  time,  patches  of  hair  come  out,  leaving 
bare,  bald  spots  which  are  rarely  ever  reclothed  with  another 
crop.  There  is  a  vital  tenacity  in  the  bulbs  which  holds  out  so 
that  thin  solitary  hairs,  short  and  sickly,  give  a  hope  of  a 
restoration,  but  they  possess  but  little  strength,  and  seldom 
have  much  color  or  vigor. 

Cases  are  cited,  when,  after  partial  baldness,  new  and  vigor- 
ous hair  shoots  forth ;  but  that  depends  more  on  the  constitu- 
tional vigor  of  the  individual  than  on  drugs,  pomatums,  or  other 
miscalled  hair-restoratives. 

"When  hair  does  reappear,  it  is  certain  the  cells  which,  in  their 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEX.  273 

aggregation,  constitute  a  bulb,  are  intact.  If  they  begin  to  secrete 
good  hair,  of  a  quality  which  was  raised  in  youth,  it  must  be  a 
gratification,  and  the  secret  of  it  is  the  vital  energy  of  the  system. 
Such  bald  places  as  have  been  described  peculiar  to  women 
who  bestow  the  most  care  upon  their  hair, — a  reason  for  it  is 
theoretically  imagined  to  be  the  growing  propensity  of  invisible 
parasites.  But  it  is  quite  doubtful  whether  such  mites  are 
operating  as  extensively  as  supposed.  In  fact,  whether  any 
such  destructive  invisibles  infest  hair  that  is  so  often  combed, 
brushed,  and  otherwise  variously  treated,  is  questionable.  ' 

A  BALD  WOMAN. 

A  perfectly  bald  woman  is  extremely  rare  ;  still,  there  are  a 
few.  Those  partially  so  are  common.  Wigs  are  so  ingeniously 
fabricated,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine  which  has  suc- 
ceeded best.  Nature  or  Art.  A  system  of  hair-dressing,  com- 
mencing with  the  day,  leaves  it  roped,  cabled,  and  pinioned,  as 
though  each  mass  were  a  prisoner. 

With  such  a  condition  of  the  head,  an  arrest  of  depilation 
could  hardly  be  expected.  The  first  step  towards  improving 
the  secretion  of  hair,  is  to  abandon  severe  tension,  and  the  next 
measure  should  be  to  dispense  with  caps  night  or  day. 

A  coarse  net,  merely  sufficient  to  keep  the  hair  from  falling 
into  disorder,  is  the  only  covering  that  should  be  worn.  No 
tonic  application  will  compare  with  pure  cold  water,  next  to  air, 
which  holds  the  first  place.  Its  value  is  demonstrated  in  the 
immense  development  of  hair  on  the  heads  of  those  who  wear 
neither  hats,  caps,  nor  bonnets. 

Some  ladies  are  deluded  with  a  theory  that  hair  is  kept  soft, 
pliable,  and  glossy,  by  being  covered  with  oiled  silk.  'With 
that  expectation,  those  more  than  usually  solicitous  for  its  pre- 


274  THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

servation,  on  the  appearance  of  deterioration,  fly  to  that  perni- 
cious course,  and  thus  actually  hasten  a  catastrophe  they  are  most 
anxious  to  avoid. 

When  a  luxuriant  growth  of  hair  floats  about  so  much  un- 
heeded by  young  misses  as  to  be  troublesome,  the  extent  of 
confinement  to  which  it  should  be  subjected  is  the  use  of  a  net. 
Exhalations  are  not  then  impeded.  If  not  as  freely  evaporated 
from  the  cranial  surface  as  from  the  neck,  face,  and  hands,  of 
the  roots  of  which  such  frequent  mention  has  been  made,  will 
surely  take  on  a  morbid  action. 

EXTRAORDINARY   GROWTH. 

Yery  tall,  slender,  fragile  young  ladies,  who  develop  prema- 
turely,— that  is,  present  all  the  physical  signs  of  perfect 
womanhood  from  thirteen  to  fifteen,  are  generally  distinguish- 
ed for  a  profusion  of  long,  soft  hair.  It  is  related  that  one  of 
those  delicate,  and  certainly  too  quickly-made  wromen,  who 
leaped,  as  it  were,  from,  childhood  into  the  full  proportions  of  a 
woman,  without  possessing  a  corresponding  mental  development, 
had  such  an  unnatural  growth  of  hair  as  to  cause  her  death. 
It  grew  several  inches  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  consequently 
exhausted  the  vitality  of  her  system  in  an  unprecedented  man- 
ner. Such  examples  are  rare,  but  occur  frequently  enough  to 
become  matters  of  physiological  record. 

"When  it  is  apparent  the  development  is  in  excess,  the 
quantity  and  growth  of  the  hair  being  wholly  disproportioned 
to  the  rest  of  the  body,  and,  therefore,  self-evidently  diverting 
nutrition  from  other  channels,  medical  counsel  is  advisable. 

Advice  from  old  women,  just  because  they  are  old,  is  not 
prudent.  Hundreds  of  them  in  large  communities  are  plethoric 
with  receipts  for  human  afflictions ;  but  neither  their  opinions, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  275 

nor  their  ointments, — commonly  farragos  of  incompatible,  chem- 
ically considered, — should  be  accepted.  They  may  succeed  in 
making  water-gruel,  spreading  mustard  plasters,  or  understand 
the  way  of  preparing  catnip-tea ;  but  if  health  is  a  boon,  never 
trust  to  any  for  prescriptions  for  preserving  it,  who  are  not  con- 
versant with  the  law  of  life. 


SIGN  OF  A  VULGARIAN. 

There  are  a  plenty  of  bold  men  who  might  have  been 
clothed  in  their  own  hair  instead  of  a  barber's  wig,  had  they 
conformed  to  the  usages  of  cultivated  society — leaving  their 
hats  in  the  entry  before  entering  a  drawing-room.  It  is  one  of 
the  rudest  and  most  common  of  vulgarities,  and  therefore 
deserving  a  severe  reprehension,  that  in  some  of  the  Southern 
States  a  man's  hat  is  a  permanent  fixture  to  his  head.  Whether 
they  are  removed  at  night  is  a  question.  Certainly,  they  wear 
them  in  the  presence  of  ladies  as  tenaciously  as. orthodox  Israe- 
fltes  do  theirs  in  a  synagogue.  If  anything  smacks  of  extreme 
vulgarity,  it  is  to  see  a  person  claiming  to  be  a  gentleman,  sit- 
ting in  a  parlor  in  conversation  with  ladies  without  removing 
his  hat. 

ANTIQUITY  OF  WIGS. 

Revelations  from  the  mummy  pits  of  Egypt  show  that 
subjects  of  the  Pharaohs  of  the  male  gender  all  wore  wigs.  They 
were  extremely  light  and  skilfully  made  of  delicate  materials, 
which  permitted  a  free  ventilation.  At  present,  and  indeed  for 
many  centuries  past,  since  mummy-making  was  abandoned, 
Orientals  have  their  heads  closely  shaven  about  every  ten  days. 
Even  male  infants  pass  through  the  same  operation,  and  have 
it  continued  as  long  as  they  live.  As  mummies  were  shaven 


276  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

as  far  back  in  the  history  of  Nilolic  civilization  as  any  authentic 
evidences  can  be  found,  it  appears  that  in  exchanging  wigs  for 
the  tarboush  or  red  felt  skull-cap — barbering  the  caput  was  not 
omitted.  It  is  a  national  custom  in  the  East  of  extreme 
antiquity. 

It  is  an  opinion,  founded  on  the  supposition,  that  vermin 
have  always  been  such  a  source  of  personal  annoyance  in  Egypt, 
that  the  only  way  of  escaping  from  them  was  to  cut  off  the 
hair  where  one  variety  principally  burrow.  Barbers  are  very 
common  in  the  cities  of  Egypt,  plying  their  razors  on  the  heads 
of  customers  by  the  wayside  at  all  hours.  They  use  no  soap, 
but  simply  moisten  the  hair  with  water,  then  pare  the  cranium 
as  smoothe  as  an  eggshell. 

Females  in  that  same  vermin* infested  country  cultivate  long 
hair  like  other  women.  They  are  less  exposed  to  camels,  don- 
kies,  dogs,  and  goats,  than  men,  and  hence  less  liable  to  the 
tribulation  to  which  the  other  sex  are  exposed  from  their 
intercourse  with  those  animals. 

PREMATURE  Loss. 

A  premature  disappearance  of  hair,  like  a  premature  loss  of 
teeth,  results  from  neglect,  or,  in  other  words,  in  consequence 
of  not  taking  proper  care  of  either.  It  is  asserted  in  a  popular 
theological  work,  that  teeth  were  never  intended  to  ache.  But 
they  do,  and  generally  those  who  deplore  their  loss  are  very 
much  to  blame. 

Hair  being  a  secretion  directly  from  arterial  blood  through 
the  agency  of  a  peculiar  glandular  apparatus,  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  cells  from  whence  it  shoots  forth,  if  any  violence  is 
inflicted  on  them,  their  function  is  interrupted,  and  if  that 
violence  continue,  they  die  and  are  obliterated. 

A  beautiful  network  of  vessels  and  nerves  surrounds  each 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  277 

hair  bulb.  The  vascularity  is  apparent  under  microscopic  in- 
spection. Therefore,  the  less  we  do  in  dressing  the  hair  beyond 
keeping  it  orderly,  the  better.  By  frequently  cropping,  it  is 
supposed  to  thicken  the  hairs  at  their  base,  and  encourage  a 
more  vigorous  growth.  To  some  extent,  that  may  be  true. 
When  short,  air  is  more  freely  admitted  to  the  scalp,  and  in- 
sensible, perspirable  emanations  escape  without  raising  an 
unhealthy  temperature  when  pent  up  in  ordinary  hats,  silk  caps, 
and  fur  head-dresses. 

The  whole  secret  of  having  luxuriant  hair  is  to  keep  it  suffi- 
ciently loose  for  a  free  access  of  air,  and  never  resorting  to  oils, 
pomatums,  or  bear's-grease,  however  sweetly  scented  to  disguise 
their  origin  in  lard,  cotton-seed  oil,  or  goose-grease. 

No  preparation  compares  with  pure  cold  water,  for  giving  a 
gloss  and  vitality  to  a  lady's  hair.  Nothing  equals  it,  and  being 
within  the  reach  of  all,  they  have  the  means  of  securing  a 
precious  boon  without  money  or  price. 

GRAY  HAIR. 

Another  point  in  regard  to  hair  relates  to  its  color.  Ladies 
become  gray,  occasionally,  while  they  consider  themselves 
younger  than  they  really  are.  It  is  no  evidence  of  old  age  to 
have  white  or  gray  hair  as  early  as  when  just  emerging  from 
their  teens.  It  is  a  hereditary  affair  in  such  cases,  and  shows 
itself  through  one  or  two  generations.  Nor  can  a  defective 
secretion  of  coloring  matter  be  restored  by  any  art  or  applica- 
tion known  to  science. 

It  has  been  said  the  Chinese  have  a  mode  of  meeting  the 
difficulty  by  taking  something  into  the  stomach  that  supplies 
the  blood  with  an  element  for  restoring  the  hair  to  its  original 
color.  The  chemists  doubt  it,  and  they  know  quite  as  much 


278  THE  WAYS   OF   WOMEN. 

and  far  more  of  science,  than  people  of  the  flowery  central 
kingdom. 

Hair-dyes  are  extensively  manufactured  to  cover  up  those 
premature  indications  of  age,  about  which  some  ladies  are 
extremely  sensitive,  without  reflecting  upon  the  fact  that  it  is 
an  incidental  circumstance,  sometimes  quite  independent  of 
longevity. 

Moral  objections  are  urged  against  the  use  or  resort  to  hair- 
dyes,  on  the  score  of  its  being  a  deception.  But  ladies  practise 
other  deceptions  quite  as  heinous,  and  if  one  is  wrong,  the 
other  is  equally  reprehensible ;  although  no  public  censor  has 
yet  had  the  courage  to  particularize  what  those  deceptions 
may  be. 

If  the  color  of  an  edifice  does  not  suit,  the  proprietor  gives 
it  another  to  meet  his  views,  without  causing  any  unpleasant 
comments  of  those  passing  by  as  to  his  right  to  interfere  with 
a  natural  process  of  decay  that  is  going  on,  or  the  moral  ter- 
pitude  of  covering  up  a  color  which  he  does  not  like  with 
another  more  acceptable  to  his  taste. 

Ladies  have  the  same  inalienable  right  to  color  their  fiery  red, 
yellow,  or  gray  hair  to  black,  brown,  or  any  other  tint  which 
makes  it  more  conformable  to  their  individual  standard  of 
beauty,  without  scruple  or  apology. 

It  is  a  duty  to  look  as  well  as  we  can  to  other  eyes.  If  we 
can  appear  younger  than  we  are  by  a  little  beet-juice  on  the 
cheeks,  or  have  the  hair  at  fifty  look  as  it  did  at  eighteen, 
there  is  no  more  wickedness  in  doing  so,  than  in  wearing 
artificial  teeth. 

If  it  is  an  offence  in  the  sight  of  heaven  to  color  our  hair, 
it  must  be  an  offence  also  to  substitute  new  clothing  for  thread- 
bare garments.  The  moment  waning  humanity  attempts  to 
rejuvenate  in  external  appearance,  there  are  troops  of  excessively 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  279 

good  people  who  denounce  it  with  holy  horror,  as  a  profana- 
tion and  an  unpardonable  offence  against  Christian  propriety. 

We  are  advocates  for  harmless  improvements  in  our  ex- 
ternal appearance,  even  if  it  relates  to  the  substitution  of  new 
clothes  for  old  ones.  As  the  hair  first  indicates  the  decrease 
of  vital  force,  there  is  nothing  criminal,  or  particularly  offensive 
to  the  public  sentiment  in  keeping  up  cheerful  appearances 
to  conceal  the  melancholy  discovery  that  we  are  no  longer 
young. 

No  one  is  so  weak  as  to  suppose  that  by  staining  the 
cheeks  or  coloring  the  hair,  either  will  prolong  their  stay  on 
earth,  or  prevent  them  going  to  that  far-off  country  from 
whence  no  traveller  returns.  To  remain  at  a  stand-still  point 
and  be  forever  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  with  no  indications  of 
having  passed  a  meridian,  cannot  be  expected.  But  it  is 
gratifying  to  some  to  conceal  their  infirmities,  but  not  so  easy 
as  to  cover  up  wrinkles  or  mount  a  wig. 

Through  the  instrumentalities  of  art,  ladies  succeed  ad- 
mirably in  covering  up  many  evidences  of  having  been  in  the 
land  of  the  living  considerably  longer  than  they  are  willing 
to  acknowledge. 

Pharmaceutical  preparations  for  external  and  internal 
administration,  of  no  value  whatever,  are  articles  of  commer- 
cial importance,  because  they  are  represented  to  do  so  much 
towards  the  rejuvenation  of  antiquated  females.  They  cannot 
be  convinced  of  the  imposition,  so  strong  is  the  desire  to 
appear  in  perpetual  vigor.  An  active  trade  in  hair-dyes,  under 
the  title  of  restorers,  regenerators,  inmgorators,  etc.,  therefore, 
is  mainly  sustained  by  those  of  both  sexes  who  fancy  gray 
hair  speaks  too  plainly  of  age. 

Do  hair-dyes  interfere  with  the  health  of  those  who  apply 
them? 


280  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

HAIK-DYES. 

Occasionally  frightful  accounts  of  their  poisonous  effects 
make  excellent  sensational  paragraphs,  and  aid  the  sale  of 
some  new  preparation  that  is  represented  to  contain  no  in- 
jurious properties. 

Under  the  impression  that  the  skin  absorbs  fluids,  hair- 
dyes  are  occasionally  denounced.  It  is  very  questionable 
whether  any  cuticular  imbibation  can  take  place.  Experiments, 
carefully  conducted  to  determine  whether  it  is  possible  for  the 
skin  to  absorb  any  kind  of  fluid  in  which  the  whole  body  had 
been  immersed  for  hours,  and  varied  in  temperature,  it  could 
not  be  detected  in  any  of  the  organs,  or  in  the  secretions  or 
excretions ;  nor  by  weighing  before  and  after,  was  there  any 
loss  more  than  might  reasonably  be  expected  by  evaporation. 

Therefore,  hair-dyes  are  not,  and  cannot  be  absorbed.  It 
is  possible  to  irritate  the  scalp  with  an  acrid  preparation.  If 
there  are  abraded  surfaces,  cuts,  scratches,  or  open  ulcerations, 
then  it  is  quite  probable  there  might  be  both  a  local  and  a 
constitutional  disturbance.  But  if  no  such  conditions  exist, 
then  it  is  idle  to  dwell  on  the  effects  of  a  hair-dye,  even  if  it  is 
made  up  of  such  materials. 

That  lead  may  be  held  in  solution  to  a  very  small  extent  in 
water  drawn  from  lead  pipes,  in  which  it  has  remained  con- 
siderable time,  is  not  doubted.  Some  persons  are  extremely 
susceptible  to  its  influence  in  the  minutest  form,  while  others 
are  in  no  way  molested  by  it.  Thus,  palsies  are  often  traced  to 
that  source,  and  it  is  quite  possible  those  supposed  to  have  been 
partially  or  wholly  paralyzed  by  hair-dye,  received  the  lead  in 
the  water  they  drank,  and  not  by  its  external  absorption. 

Most  of  the  dyes  have  the  reputation  of  being  made  of  lead 
and  largely  of  sulphur. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  281 

Lead  pipes  are  objectionable,  but  it  would  be  expensive  to 
introduce  a  substitute.  Millionaires  only  could  afford  to  tap 
street  mains  with  silver  or  glass  tubes  of  sufficient  strength  to 
resist  pressure  from  without  or  from  within.  Municipalities, 
boards  'of  health,  and  chemists  are  convinced,  by  thorough 
investigation,  that  lead  in  solution  in  lead  water  pipes  is  so 
minute  in  quantity,  as  not  to  endanger  public  health.  As  well 
might  printing  be  abandoned,  and  books  and  papers  written 
with  a  pen,  as  before  the  invention  of  type,  because  one  com- 
positor in  one  hundred  thousand  has  benumbed  fingers  in 
consequence  of  lead  in  their  composition. 

There  is  a  vital  chemistry — a  preservative  force  constantly 
operating  for  the  protection  of  the  body — separating,  carrying 
away,  or  neutralizing  poisonous  properties  taken  into  the 
stomach  in  aliments  and  water,  which,  if  allowed  to  remain  un- 
changed but  a  little  time,  would  be  productive  of  painful  con- 
sequences. It  is  in  that  way  that  lead  poison  is  disposed  of 
before  so  much  of  it  accumulates  as  to  become  unmanageable 
by  that  conservative  vital  force  which  is  a  watchful  guardian 
over  organic  life. 

Some  persons  are  infinitely  more  susceptible  to  certain  im- 
pressions than  others.  On  the  whole,  we  must  be  reconciled  to 
the  contingencies  of  modern  civilization.  It  would  be  absurd 
to  abandon  thousands  of  conveniences  because  it  is  possible 
some  of  them  might  raise  a  pimple,  and  thus  mar  the  beauty 
of  a  fine  face. 

By  no  means  run  a  needless  risk  in  an  effort  to  improve 
personal  appearance;  but  in  the  application  of  hair-dyes,  no 
danger  need  be  apprehended,  if  the  skin  is  not  broken,  and  the 
scalp  is  free  from  ulcerations. 

Simply  moistening  the  hair  cannot  in  any  way  conduct  the 
fluid  into  the  system.  Hairs  are  not  tubes  which  may  be  filled 


282  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

at  their  outward  extremity,  like  a  bottle  ;  nor  are  they  hollow 
cylinders,  through  which  a  stream  may  be  conveyed  to  the 
skull.  Hair  performs  no  such  function.  The  fluid  of  which 
they  are  formed  is  taken  directly  from  arterial  blood,  flowing 
from  the  base  outwardly.  No  inverted  action  can  take  place. 
Neuralgic  twinges,  numbness,  or  giddiness,  from  the  use  of 
hair-dyes,  are  not  produced  by  its  absorption.  If  at  all,  it  is 
by  evaporation,  and  inhaling  the  vapor  into  the  lungs,  and 
thus  conducting  the  poison  to  the  circulation. 

Hair-dyes  contain  sulphur.  That,  too,  is  denounced  on  the 
false  supposition  that  it  creeps  insidiously  through  the  hair, 
like  a  sand-gigger,  into  the  system.  Irritation  is  not  absorp- 
tion. Continued  applications  of  solutions  of  lead  or  sulphur 
would  unquestionably  become  irritants,  and  they  indirectly 
affect  the  general  health.  A  palsy  of  the  muscles  about  the  eyes, 
or  sides  of  the  face,  or  of  the  broad,  flat  occipito  frontalis  that 
covers  the  top  of  the  head,  from  hair-dyes,  must  be  extremely 
rare ;  and  then,  rather  from  sympathy,  than  a  direct  action  of 
the  dye  to  the  extreme  twigs  of  the  first  and  second  branches 
of  the  fifth  pair  of  nerves,  which  are  finely  dispersed  in  the 
facial  muscles. 

Nerves  of  motion  emanate  from  the  vertebral  column, 
while  those  of  special  sense  have  their  origin  in  the  brain. 
Threads  of  the  superior,  middle,  and  inferior  facial  nerves 
which  control  the  muscles  on  the  sides  of  the  face,  are  wholly 
beyond  and  independent  of  twigs  from  quite  another  source 
distributed  to  the  hair  bulbs. 

There  is  no  valid  physiological  objection,  therefore,  nor 
pathological,  to  staining  white  hair  black,  brown,  or  yellow. 
If  mixtures  contain  pulverized  cantharides,  or  any  powerful 
irritant,  of  course  uncomfortable  consequences  will  follow. 

Some  hair-dye  manufacturers  claim   that  they  restore  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  283 

hair  to  its  original  color.  That  is  a  mistake,  since  it  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  a  natural  process,  the  tint  being  carried  to 
the  bulbs  by  arterial  action.  Chemically  changing  the  color  is 
not  a  restoration,  and,  besides,  it  fades  out  in  a  few  days,  if 
neglected. 

Vegetable  dyes  are  always  preferable  to  metallic.  Turks, 
Persians,  Egyptians,  and  other  Orientals,  who  glory  in  their 
intensely  black  beards,  have  them  stained  by  decoctions  and 
inspissated  juices  of  plants.  Inmates  of  harems,  too,  avail 
themselves  of  simple  products  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  for 
their  raven  locks. 

Sulphur  is  extensively  used  in  American  hair-dyes,  but 
that  need  not  excite  alarm  or  apprehension.  When  applied,  as 
it  often  is,  to  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  in  the  form  of  an 
unguent  for  cuticular  affections,  in  baths  or  internally,  no 
baneful  effects  follow.  How  much  less  direct,  when  simply 
applied  to  the  hair. 

Whoever  gives  to  the  patronizing-hair-dyeing  public  a 
purely  vegetable  coloring  fluid,  will  reap  a  rich  return. 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 
THEIR  FEET. 

Can't  make  them  Small  Enough — How  they  are  Injured — Origin  of  Corns 
and  Bunions — Tight  Shoes — Enlargement  of  the  Toe-Joints  by  Com- 
pression— India  Rubber — Evil  of  High  Heels — Remedy  for  Pains  and 
Deformities. 

HAVING  adverted  to  the  painful  consequences  of  wearing 
garments  that  fit  too  closely  about  the  chest,  without  the  re- 
motest expectation  of  gaining  converts  among  those  for  whom 
these  observations  have  been  written,  the  consideration  of 
another  evil  of  serious  moment  to  the  every-day  comfort  of 
women,  is  a  subject  not  to  be  overlooked  by  them. 

It  being  admitted  that  Nature  is  superior  to  art,  it  is  extra- 
ordinary that  women  of  sense  continue  to  torture  themselves, 
with  an  apparent  resolution  to  compel  Nature  to  sanction  their 
follies.  Notwithstanding  the  most  positive  and  undeniable 
proofs  that  have  been  given  in  public  lectures,  and  in  printed 
volumes,  to  explain  intelligibly  the  injurious  effects  of  tight- 
lacing,  women  are  as  obstinately  opposed  to  any  change  in  that 
respect,  as  they  would  be  to  a  reyolution  that  would  abridge 
their  freedom,  or  interfere  with  cherished  opinions  in  regard  to 
their  moral  duties  and  obligations. 

Feet  were  designed  to  be  used  in  walking,  and'  it  must  be 
admitted  that  their  anatomical  structure  admirably  fits  them  for 
sustaining  the  weight  of  the  body. 

An  architectural  arrangement  of  seven  irregularly-shapen 
bones  of  the  instep,  brought  together  in  a  manner  to  form  two 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  285 

arches,  unequalled  in  strength  and  adaptation  for  the  purposes 
contemplated  in  their  structure,  needs  only  to  be  examined 
attentively  to  convince  a  sceptic  that  the  evidence  of  design  is 
too  forcibly  demonstrated  in  the  mechanical  adjustment  of  that 
part  of  the  foot,  to  be  questioned  by  a  sane  mind. 

There  was  a  necessity  contemplated  for  giving  the  lower 
extremities  peculiar  strength.  The  feet  are  complicated 
machines,  managed  by  a  multitude  of  vessels,  cords,  nerves, 
ligaments  and  voluntary  muscles,  and  yet,  with  all  their  com- 
plexity, if  not  ill-treated,  they  rarely  get  out  of  order.  They 
would  outlast  some  of  the  apparently  higher  organs,  and  are 
always  in  readiness  for  use  when  properly  treated. 

DISSATISFIED  WITH  NATUBE. 

Women  are  notorious  for  being  dissatisfied  with  that  part  of 
their  own  organization.  Some  of  the  kindest-hearted,  sym- 
pathetic ladies,  are  intolerably  severe  upon  their  own  feet, 
which  they  torture  without  remorse,  when  it  would  distress 
them  painfully  to  witness  the  struggles  of  a  fly  in  a  spider's 
web.  They  comment,  without  apology,  on  the  feet  of  other 
women. 

They  are  harder  upon  their  own  feet  than  on  the  doubtful 
reputation  of  a  rival,  and  recklessly  tamper  with  their  pedal  ex- 
tremities to  their  own  discomfiture. 

A  small  foot  is  more  prized  by  some  women  than  a  full 
purse.  She  is  a  bold  female  who  prefers  comfortable  shoes,  if 
they  appear  to  be  large,  while  millions  court  the  applause  of 
fools  who  pretend  to  idolize  little  feet. 

Laws  of  proportion  are  studied  by  artists  in  living  beings ; 
one  may  have  a  large  head,  another  long  fingers,  a  plump 
hand,  or  a  coarse  and  angular  pair  of  shoulders.  Some  are  dis- 


286  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

tinguished  for  short  limbs,  others  are  stilted  up  on  immensely 
slender  legs,  hardly  larger  than  the  slender  supports  of  a 
flamingo. 

As  people  vary  in  dimensions,  weight,  strength  or  graceful- 
ness, so  their  feet  vary,  but  they  are  always  precisely  of  the 
size  they  ought  to  be,  to  sustain  the  pressure  from  above. 
Unfortunately,  ladies,  as  a  general  observation,  do  not  see  things 
in  that  light.  An  arbitrary  ruling  of  the  votaries  of  fashion 
has  decided  that  feet  must  be  small  to  be  elegant.  This  is  the 
reason  why  distorted  feet  are  almost  universal  among  women 
who  are  removed,  by  fortunate  circumstances,  above  the  lower 
stratum  of  society. 

They  patiently  submit  to  severe  grievances  without  com- 
plaining, but  if  their  feet  happen  to  be  larger  than  the  standard 
of  gentility  requires,  their  lamentations,  though  not  always 
audible,  are,  nevertheless,  nursed  in  secret  through  years  of 
hope  and  ambition  to  be  remoulded. 

From  the  vanity  of  some  ladies,  whose  thoughts  are  more 
concentrated  on  their  feet  than  their  education,  it  impresses 
spectators  with  an  idea  that  they  think  more  of  them  than  they 
do  of  the  culture  of  their  minds. 


ABNOKMAL  CONDITIONS. 

Corns,  bunions,  incurvated  nails,  callosities  on  the  heels, 
riding  toes,  distortions,  chilblains,  and  many  other  troubles  of  a 
less  grievous  character,  are  each  and  all  of  them  the  results  of 
wearing  such  shoes  as  most  commonly  do  not  fit  them,  in  conse- 
quence of  determining  to  wear  those  which  are  too  small. 
Tight  shoes  are  the  immediate  agents  in  the  production  of  all 
those  pedal  woes. 

If  small  feet  have  their  worshippers  in  worthless  admirers, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  287 

there  are  those  who  view  with  sorrow  a  deplorable  progress  of 
that  phase  in  civilization  which  cripples  women  in  order  to 
make  them  satisfied  with  themselves. 

Swellings,  cedematous  enlargements  of  the  joints,  especially 
of  the  great  toe,  or  a  doughy  fulness  of  the  ankles,  increased 
by  too  tightly-laced  boots,  are  all  the  results  of  voluntary  abuse. 

By  mistake,  boots  and  shoes  may  be  too  small,* but  where 
there  is  a  determination  to  conform  to  a  prescribed  standard, 
the  wearer  is  not  to  be  bluffed  off  by  pain,  or  the  outcry  of 
oppressed  flesh  and  blood  at  the  point  of  pressure. 

Continued  compression  cannot  be  endured  long  without  dis- 
arranging the  anatomical  relations  of  the  bones.  The  foot  is 
built  up  of  twenty-six  bones,  no  two  being  alike,  of  the  same 
weight,  size,  or  shape,  besides  one  or  two  additional  ones,  not 
always  constant,  called  sesamoids,  resembling  split  peas. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  EXTRA  BONES. 

An  extra  bone  may  be  generated  to  meet  certain  contin- 
gencies. These  sesamoids  are  two,  three,  or  even  four  in 
number,  depending  on  circumstances  affecting  the  particular 
region  where  an  extra  bone  may  be  developed. 

Originally,  only  two  exist,  and  these  are  at  the  base  of  the 
large  toe,  being  props  for  lifting  the  long  flexor  tendon  farther 
from  the  articulation,  to  increase  its  power.  Bunions  are  an 
inflamed  thickening  of  the  periosteum  and  an  enlargement  of 
the  ends  of  two  bones  making  the  great  toe  joint. 

If  there  is  pressure  at  that  point,  long-continued  inflamma- 
tion sets  in.  The  irritation  extends  down  from  the  skin  to  the 
periosteum, — the  membrane  immediately  investing  the  bone, 
which  thickens,  becomes  puffy  and  exceedingly  sensitive  when 
its  vitality  is  roused. 


288  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEK 

Each  tissue  is  thickened,  and  the  exterior  becomes  red  and 
painful.  Unless  all  pressure  is  immediately  removed  and  ap- 
plications made  to  reduce  the  inflammation,  matter  forms  and 
sometimes  is  copiously  discharged. 

If  not  opened  with  a  lancet, — the  pent-up  matter  being 
allowed  to  remain,  the  bone  may  become  diseased,  which 
greatly  complicates  the  misfortune. 

Ulceration  leaves  the  joint  a  little  enlarged,  even  when 
treated  skilfully.  !N"o  shoe  ever  fits  precisely  or  easily,  after 
the  periosteum  has  once  been  roused  to  inflammation. 

Topical  applications  are  only  temporary  relief.  It  is  pre- 
posterous to  think  of  a  radical  cure  without  removing  the 
cause. 

Another  tribulation  connected  with  uncured  bunions,  is  the 
spongy  enlargement  of  the  long  metatarsal  bone  to  which  the 
great  toe  is  attached.  Once  enlarged,  it  seldom  ever  falls  back 
to  its  normal  dimensions.  As  a  natural  consequence,  a  shoe 
worn  over  it  reveals  the  distortion,  giving  that  part  of  the  foot 
an  unsymmetrical  appearance. 

Persons  are  constantly  met  with  one  or  both  large  toe-joints 
so  much  enlarged  as  to  immensely  distort  the  shoe.  Every 
step  is  attended  with  torture. 

When  a  bone  becomes  diseased,  there  is  an  exaltation  of 
vitality  of  a  peculiar  character.  In  health  it  is  of  a  low  order, 
just  sufficient  to  connect  it  with  a  living  system,  otherwise  it 
would  stand  in  the  relation  of  a  foreign  body,  not  to  be 
repaired  when  injured  or  governed  by  laws  of  the  general 
economy. 

The  nerves  in  the  bones  are  extremely  attenuated,  while 
the  circulation  of  arterial  blood  is  sent  to  the  remotest  section, 
carrying  in  solution  materials  for  growth  or  repair.  Yet  even 
such  slender  threads,  communicating  as  they  do  with  nervous 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  289 

centres,  when  contused  or  invaded,  immediately  communicate 
the  fact.  An  injured  bone  cannot  be  pacified  easily.  Medica- 
tions for  them  consist  principally  in  topical  appliances  for 
reducing  inflammatory  action. 

The  severest  sufferings  from  bunions  or  corns  are  not  per- 
manently relieved  by  unguents,  emollient  lotions,  or  paring 
away  hardened  cuticle.  The  remedy  which  is  a  cure,  is  simply 
wearing  shoes  that  do  not  press  on  the  tender  spot. 

Wearing  sandals  for  a  month,  which  have  no  vamps,  would 
allow  nature  to  reestablish  order  where  it  has  been  disturbed 
by  tight  shoes. 

TEMPORARY  BELIEF. 

A  sensible  way  of  seeking  temporay  relief  practised  by 
laborers,  is  to  cut  a  piece  out  of  the  shoes  or  boot,  over  the 
bunion.  A  hole  thus  made,  affords  immediate  relief  from 
agonizing  pain. 

No  outlay  for  advertised  specifics  need  be  expended.  Free- 
dom to  the  oppressed  part  is  all  that  is  required. 

When  ladies  reach  their  dressing-rooms  from  a  promenade, 
distressed  by  their  beautifully-fitting  boots,  their  first  act  is  to 
exchange  them  for  soft  slippers  —  the  older  the  better.  Other- 
wise they  sit  in  their  stockings,  shoeless,  till  the  anguish 
brought  on  by  exercise  in  their  tormentors  has  somewhat 
subsided. 


Corns  speak  in  forcible  language,  which  makes  those  who 
have  them  realize  that  no  half-way  measures  are  successful  in 
their  treatment. 

They  actually  spring  into  existence  to  defend  the  spot 
where  they  appear,  from  impending  injury  ;  and  as  faithful 


290  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

sentinels,  cry  out  at  every  movement  which  menaces  the 
locality  under  their  charge. 

Barefooted  people  have  no  such  afflictions,  nor  those  who 
wear  cast-off  shoes  a  size  or  two  larger  than  their  feet.  Corns 
never  appear  unless  the  toes  are  wedged  too  closely.  Being 
pinched  expresses  the  condition  which  develops  those  painful 
prominences. 

If  the  vamp  of  a  shoe  is  too  low,  the  pressure  interferes 
with  a  free  circulation  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  toes.  Inflam- 
mation follows,  the  cuticle  begins  to  thicken  and  rise  above  the 
ordinary  level. 

On  its  underside  or  base,  a  corn  has  a  conical  shape — the 
point,  like  a  thorn,  on  the  slightest  pressure,  irritates  the  in- 
flamed periosteum  below,  and  thus  they  act  as  messengers, 
announcing  through  the  nerve  filaments  something  wrong  is 
transpiring,  which  is  thus  telegraphed  to  the  brain ;  which,  if 
a  sensible  one,  will  remove  the  tormenting  pressure. 

In  these  pedal  miseries,  volutarily  induced,  a  demand  is 
made  for  a  distinct  profession  to  meet  the  contingency.  Thus 
chiropodists  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  lucrative  incomes.  Corn- 
doctors  have  a  thriving  business  in  cities. 

Corn-martyrs  do  not  deserve  much  commiseration,  because 
they  might  have  permanent  relief  by  simply  discarding  tight 
shoes. 

Softening  corns  in  tepid  water,  and  afterwards  paring  them 
down,  is  only  temporary  relief,  with  a  moral  certainty  of  a 
speedy  uprising  again  to  the  former  elevation.  The  more 
prominent,  the  worse  it  seems  to  dig  down  into  the  flesh  below. 

Corn  doctors  are  not  infallible.  They  promise  well,  but 
their  operations  must  be  frequently  repeated. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  291 

CHILBLAINS. 

Chilblains — those  burning  red  patches  which  are  excessively 
irritable  on  the  heel,  the  sides  of  the  feet,  and  occasionally  on 
the  sole — are  produced  quite  as  often  by  pressure  and  the  non- 
escapement  of  perspirable  emanations  from  the  feet  as  from 
snow-water. 

Glazed  leather  and  India  rubber  shoes  and  boots  prevent  the 
evaporation  of  perspiration  from  the  feet,  and  hence  they  become 
extremely  tender  and  liable  to  chilblains.  India  rubber  con- 
stricts the  toes,  by  tightening  the  bones  and  deranging  their 
original  relations. 

Such  shoes  should  only  be  worn  for  a  very  short  period — 
for  walking  through  muddy  streets — and  removed  on  entering 
the  house.  Aside  from  the  injury  inflicted  on  the  feet  by 
wearing  them  as  some  do,  indiscreetly,  days  in  succession,  if 
the  perspiration  is  pent  up  and  not  allowed  to  escape,  the  gene- 
ral health  has  been  found  to  be  disturbed  from  that  cause. 
Habitually  worn,  India  rubbers  distort  the  feet  and  leave  them 
extremely  tender. 

Thin  shoes,  too  thin  and  light  to  resist  moisture  from  with- 
out, particularly  when  there  is  snow  on  the  ground,  invite  chil- 
blains. Ladies  should  wear  shoes  as  thick  and  strong  as  those 
worn  by  men,  if  they  are  similarly  exposed  in  the  open  air. 
Thick  soles  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  Ordinarily,  they  are 
not  much  thicker  than  paper?|  which  explains  a  liability  to  those 
erysipelic  attacks  which  commence  suddenly  and  run  a  rapid 
course. 

ERYSIPELAS  OF  THE  FEET. 

Solutions  of  common  salt,  sulphate  of  zinc,  decoctions  of 
rose  leaves  or  camomile  flowers,  are  each  and  all  of  them  sooth- 


292  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

ing,  and  not  unfrequently  effectual  in  dispersing  the  malady,  if 
applied  seasonably. 

EFFECTS  OF  CONTINUED  COMPEESSION. 

There  is  scarcely  any  difficulty  or  derangement  of  the  toes 
or  feet  that  does  not  originate  in  violence  from  compression. 
Cotton-batting,  stuffed  between  the  stocking  and  the  corn  or 
bunion, 'so  as  to  raise  the  shoe  above  the  corn,  is  an  admirable 
way  of  obtaining  immediate  relief,  when  so  circumstanced  that 
no  other  more  permanent  treatment  can  be  had. 


HIGH  HEELS. 

Sprains,  abrasions  of  the  skin,  etc.,  which  are  inconveni- 
ences, may  frequently  be  traced  to  immensely  high  heels  which 
ladies  cannot  dispense  with,  who  make  pretensions  to  fashion- 
able equipment. 

With  these  warning  words,  if  they  still  persist  in  making 
themselves  uncomfortable  even  to  intense  suffering,  they  must 
be  given  over  as  incorrigible  and  willing  dupes  to  the  arbitrary 
demands  of  fashion  which  imposes  hardships  upon  them  greater 
than  they  ought  to  bear. 

It  will  be  an  amusing  exhibition  for  a  distant  generation  to 
have  pictorially  illustrated  the  phases  of  female  fashions  of 
this  generation.  The  cut  of  garments,  high  heels,  enormous 
hip  and  other  paddings,  pyramids,  of  artificial  hair  piled  on  in 
such  profusion  as  to  be  entirely  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  rest 
of  the  body,  with  other  ridiculous  contrivances  that  must 
embarrass  their  freedom  of  motion — could  not  fail  of  being  con- 
templated then  as  now,  with  mirthful  astonishment. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  293 

A  GRACEFUL  STEP. 

A  steady,  dignified  step,  is  hardly  possible  on  high  heels. 
Mounted  thus,  the  weight  is  thrown  forward,  the  shoe  becom- 
ing an  inclined  plane,  which  gives  a  peculiar  stoop  that  took  the 
name  of  the  Grecian  bend  when  first  introduced.  It  is  like 
standing  on  the  roof  of  a  building,  cobbled  up  on  high  heels, 
being  continually  obliged  to  resist  a  tendency  to  pitch  forward. 

High  heels  bring  immediate  trouble  to  the  toes,  by  wedg- 
ing them  into  the  extreme  point  of  the  shoe. 

Absurdities  in  dress  die  out  for  a  while  and  then  revive 
again,  as  though  humanity  could  not  be  satisfied  without  being 
slightly  miserable.  Just  at  this  particular  juncture,  high  heels 
are  very  high,  with  a  base  of  support  not  much  broader  than  a 
finger-nail.  Shop  window  specimens  exhibit  the  sacrifices 
women  make  to  appear  taller  than  Dame  Nature  ordained  them. 
Fashion  or  death  is  the  ruling  spirit,  and  some  have  both. 

Female  pedestrians  step  out  of  their  high-heeled  boots  as 
quickly  as  possible  on  a  return  from  a  promenade.  Heels,  even 
half  an  inch  high,  cannot  be  worn  without  bringing  an  extra 
strain  upon  some  of  the  muscles  of  the  leg,  particularly  on  the 
long  flexors  of  the  foot. 

Ridicule  heelless  shoes  of  Orientals  as  we  may,  they  are 
philosophically  right,  and  we  are  wrong.  They  are  at  ease  with 
them,  while  our  ladies  are  only  comfortable  when  they  are  off. 

How  much  rheumatism,  neuralgia,  and  cramps  are  due  to 
high  heels,  may  be  ascertained  by  the  study  of  works  on  morbid 
anatomy. 

PARTIAL  ADAPTATION  TO  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

By  persistence  in  wrong-doing,  that  is,  voluntarily  making 
one's  self  uncomfortable,  the  muscles  of  the  foot  and  leg  after 


294  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

awhile  adjust  themselves  partially  to  the  new  condition,  but 
always  at  the  expense  of  a  loss  of  tone,  and  of  the  full  exercise 
of  their  normal  power.  Whenever  liberated,  they  contract  back 
to  their  former  state,  which  is  a  permanent  relief,  if  not  again 
compelled  to  act  unnaturally. 

Men  are  no  wiser  than  women  in  regard  to  the  high-heel 
mania.  Their  boots  are  elevated  quite  too  much  at  the  heel ; 
consequently,  they  are  familiar  with  corns  and  bunions,  enlarged 
toe-nails,  unsymmetrical  feet,  and  bulging  out  of  the  leather 
over  those  irregularities,  created  by  forcing  the  foot  forward 
into  a  narrow  extremity  of  space. 

We  were  all  born  with  good  pedal  extremities,  precisely 
adapted  to  the  plane  of  the  earth,  and  they  would  serve  us  ad- 
mirably, free  from  excrescences,  incurvated  nails,  riding  toes, 
callosities,  protruding  joints,  and  other  annoyances,  to  extreme 
old  age,  if  they  were  never  put  into  unyielding  leather  prisons, 
too  small  to  receive  them. 

ANTIQUE  FOOT. 

A  small  foot  may  be  exceedingly  beautiful  in  the  estimation 
of  those  who  have  very  large  ones.  If  narrow,  and  the  toes  are 
in  close  contact,  the  foot  is  not  a  true  type  of  the -best  form. 
Sculpture  represents  the  toes  spread,  so  that  there  is  space 
between  them,  thus  giving  them  a  firmer  hold  and  a  broader 
base  of  support. 

Camels  are  born  with  callosities  over  several  joints  on  which 
they  rest  while  being  laden  or  unladen.  Man  has  a  thick,  com- 
pact protecting  cuticle  in  the  sole  of  the  foot,  beautifully 
cushioned  for  protecting  nerves,  blood-vessels,  and  tendons 
under  an  archway  of  small  bones,  between  the  heel  and  base  of 
the  toes.  The  arch  is  kept  in  place  by  inelastic  ligaments,  run- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  295 

ning  from  point  to  point,  so  remarkable  in  the  disposition  made 
of  them,  as  to  show,  beyond  the  cavil  of  ingenious  doubters,  that 
intelligence  was  exercised  in  their  distribution,  to  give  perfec- 
tion to  the  foot.  Without  just  that  particular  arrangement,  the 
weight  of  the  body  would  crush  the  structure  into  confusion, 
and  utterly  destroy  the  mechanism. 

As  we  did  not  contrive  our  own  bodies,  we  must  admit  of 
the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Intelligence  that  did  produce  such 
marvellous  mechanism. 

Artists  find  the  foot  a  profound  study,  simply  looking  to  its 
exterior ;  while  anatomists  are  rapt  in  wonder  and  admiration 
at  revelations  in  its  interior. 

Both  elementary  anatomy  and  physiology  should  be  taught 
in  female  schools  and  seminaries,  that  the  pupils  might  have 
early  insight  into  their  own  complicated  organization.  It  would 
make  them  more  careful  of  themselves,  and  lead  to  the  observ- 
ance of  those  laws,  the  violation  of  which,  through  ignorance, 
whether  relating  to  their  stomachs,  their  brains,  their  eyes,  or 
their  feet,  embitters  life,  and  destroys  them  before  they  have 
had  as  much  of  life  as  they  would  have  had  under  a  more  per- 
fect system  of  education. 

A  medical  gentleman  of  Boston  excited  considerable  derision 
some  years  ago,  because  his  common-sense  was  superior  to 
fashionable  folly.  One  of  his  so-called  foolish  whims  was,  in 
having  shoes  for  his  children  made  exactly  to  conform  to  their 
outline,  marked  round  on  a  piece  of  leather  with  a  pencil. 
Their  shoes  had  a  comical  appearance,  to  be  sure,  contrasted 
with  modern  manufacture,  but  an  object  of  importance  was  at- 
tained, viz.,  good,  sound  feet. 

Let  those  laugh  who  win. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 
THEIR  PHYSICAL  NECESSITIES. 

Is  life  essentially  prolonged  or  shortened  by  the  quality  of 
our  food  3 

Many  physicians  would  answer  no,  if  they  gave  the  subject 
much  thought.  Each  and  all  entertain  theories  which  naturally 
have  an  origin  in  deliberations  on  the  phases  of  disease,  and  the 
influence  of  diet. 

Most  persons  have  a  vague  notion  in  regard  to  themselves,  in 
reference  to  what  may  or  may  not  be  suitable  for  the  stomach. 

Even  those  of  eminent  physiological  attainments  are  often 
influenced  by  whims,  rather  than  by  facts,  in  their  theories  of 
Hfe.  Evidence  is  extant  of  the  highest  import,  incontestably 
proving  that  it  is  of  very  little  importance,  or  rather  of  no  con- 
sequence, what  kind  of  food  we  subsist  upon.  Longevity 
depends  on  a  peculiar  vital  endowment,  transmitted  from 
parents  to  children.  Neither  food  nor  climate  perceptibly 
modifies  the  life  period,  aside  from  outbreaks  of  pestilence  and 
epidemics. 

A  beggar  in  the  street  lives  as  long  as  one  who  satis- 
fies every  craving  of  his  nature.  Wise,  considerate,  and 
learned  men  who  believe  themselves  masters  of  hygienic  laws, 
cannot  arrest  the  progress  of  what  is  denominated  self-limited 
disease.  Nor  is  it  easier  to  arrest  the  tendency  to  long  life, 
when  the  food  has  been  wholesome,  without  violence. 

There  must  be  specific  laws  regulating  the  life  period  of  all 
animals  and  plants.  "With  the  aid  of  science,  it  is  possible  to 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  297 

acquire  a  better  knowledge  of  those  laws  of  limitation.  It  is 
within  the  sphere  of  possibility  to  determine  the  precise  day  of 
death. 

FEMALE  MEDICAL  EXAMINERS. 

This  subject  has  been  studied  with  earnest  solicitude  by  life 
insurance  managers,  but,  unfortunately,  the  inquiry  has  too  fre- 
quently been  confided  by  those  institutions  to  medical  donkies, 
instead  of  men  of  brain.  It  is  very  mortifying  that  medical 
examiners  appointed  for  the  express  purpose  of  discovering  the 
physical  prospects  of  life  in  applicants  for  policies,  are  not  often 
distinguished  for  ability,  educational  acquirements,  or  profes- 
sional standing.  A  man  of  knowledge,  fitting  him  to  counsel 
executive  officers  in  granting  the  benefits  of  life  insurance,  has 
not  much  chance  of  appointment,  unless  he  is  a  relative  of  some 
controlling  spirit  of  the  institution.  Were  researches  made  into 
the  organization  of  many  companies,  it  would  surprise  the 
public  to  learn  they  are  family  affairs,  largely  owned  and 
managed  for  the  support  of  a  president,  secretary,  cashier,  and 
other  officers,  including  fathers-in-law,  brothers-in-law,  cousins, 
sons,  and  nephews,  and  occasionally  doctors,  all  held  together  by 
a  tether  of  consanguinity. 

Women  should  be  the  medical  examiners  of  women  for  life- 
policies.  Reasons  might  be  given  for  this  assertion,  of  import- 
ance to  companies.  A  female  medical  examiner  should  be 
attached  to  the  office  permanently,  even  if  she  were  not  a  rela- 
tive to  the  ruling  elder. 

DIMINUTION  OF  VITAL  FORCE. 

When  we  have  reached  a  period  at  which  there  is  a  full 
development  of  our  powers  and  faculties,  the  scale  is  turned, 


298  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

and  a  diminution  of  life-force  is  gradually  perceptible.  It  is 
precisely  so  with  animals,  in  whatever  climate  they  are  located. 
There  is  less  activity  in  the  circulation,  a  gradual  relaxation  of 
the  tissues,  and  an  increasing  obtuseness  in  the  nerves  of  special 
sense.  A  reluctance  to  engaging  in  pursuits  that  formerly  were 
sources  of  pleasure,  is  another  observable  circumstance,  indicat- 
ing a  culmination  and  downward  tendency  of  the  body  and 
mind. 

Though  there  may  be  a  long  lingering  old  age,  the  day  of 
doom  at  last  arrives.  Rude  winds  rend  a  limb  here  and  there, 
and  by  and  by  a  gale  in  its  fury  levels  the  giant  oak  with  the 
ground  from  whence  it  came.  As  it  is  with  stately  trees  of  the 
forest,  so  it  is  with  monsters  of  the  deep.  A  whale  may  roam 
in  the  depths  of  the  ocean  for  centuries,  able  to  withstand 
terrific  assaults  of  formidable  enemies,  but  the  great  heapt  that 
drove  a  column  of  blood  one  hundred  feet  at  each  pulsation, 
finally  beats  for  the  last  time,  at  the  end  of  a  thousand  years, 
— for  aught  we  know  to  the  contrary — in  obedience  to  a  law 
of  limitation. 

Though  we  understand  many  of  the  once-called  mysteries  of 
Nature,  yet  we  cannot  ward  off  a  blow  that  will  terminate 
existence,  when  most  solicitous  to  live.  Man,  of  all  created 
beings,  has  a  conscious  knowledge  of  what  must  transpire  in  re- 
gard to  the  close  of  life,  without  being  able  to  avert  it. 

SANITAKY  PRECAUTIONS. 

Moses  gave  the  first  code  of  sanitary  regulations  ever  pro- 
mulgated, which  are  substantially  in  force  at  the  present  day  in 
most  Christian  countries.  Wherever  they  are  strictly  observed 
in  respect  to  animal  food,  the  people  enjoy  the  best  health. 

"Were  a  catalogue  given  of  the  kinds  of  food  on  which 


THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN.  299 

humanity  should  subsist,  it  would  not  be  satisfactory,  simply 
because  articles  that  would  be  excluded  as  dangerous  in  one 
country,  might  be  valued  as  very  superior  in  another. 

But  man  being  omnivorous,  he  can  be  sustained  on  anything 
which  yields  nutrition  to  graminivorous  or  carnivorous  animals. 
In  Arctic  regions,  the  demand  of  the  stomach  is  for  fat  meats 
and  animal  oils.  On  approaching  the  Tropics,  both  the  quality 
and  quantity  is  constantly  varying,  the  craving  being  for  a  mix- 
ture of  vegetable  with  animal  food — the  appetite  for  the  first 
rather  predominating. 

At  the  Equator,  fruits,  grains,  nuts,  seeds,  and  roots  are  the 
principal  food  of  the  inhabitants  ;  but,  according  to  travellers, 
a  desire  for  animal  aliment  becomes  so  perfectly  uncontrollable 
at  times,  as  to  lead  to  terribly  revolting  exhibitions  of  can- 
nibalism. 

Disgusting  feastings  on  human  flesh  are  almost  certain  to 
take  place  every  few  months  in  the  gloomy  interior  of  that  part 
of  Africa  which  is  rarely  penetrated  by  white  men, — the  home 
of  gorillas, — if  meats  cannot  be  procured  from  other  sources. 

A  demand  for  elements,  nowhere  else  found  but  in  animal 
food,  partially  explains  those  barbarous  acts  of  feeding  on  a  fel- 
low-being, which  characterize  the  rudest  condition  of  human 
society. 

There  really  is  no  positive  standard,  that  is,  a  catalogue  of 
articles  which  are  proper,  and  exclusively  so,  for  nourishing  the 
body. 

Were  a  butcher  to  sell  horse  meat  in  our  cities,  he  would, 
unquestionably,  be  prosecuted  for  vending  an  unwholesome 
article,  unfit  and  unsuitable  for  human  food.  A  feeling  of  in- 
tense exasperation  would  probably  agitate  the  community 
where  such  an  outrage  had  been  perpetrated.  Yet,  in  Paris, 
horse-beef  is  a  recognized  market  production,  and  well  esteemed 


300  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

as  nutritious  and  proper.     There  were  eight  markets  in  which 
it  was  extensively  sold  before  the  late  revolution. 

Let  a  prosecution  be  commenced  almost  anywhere  in  the 
United  States,  against  some  one  who  had  the  hardihood  to  sell 
horse-meat,  and,  ten  chances  to  one,  there  would  be  an  array  of 
medical  experts  to  testify  it  was  an  infamous  transaction,  de- 
structive to  individuals,  as  it  would  be  to  the  public 
health. 

Man  is  omnivorous,  and,  because  he  is  so,  amply  qualified  to 
range  over  the  globe,  regardless  of  circumstances  which  restrict 
most  animals  to  particular  localities  in  which  their  appropriate 
nourishment  is  provided. 

What  would  become  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lapland,  deprived 
of  fish  and  seal, — no  vegetables  to  be  had  there  ? 

Necessity  compels  those  at  the  Arctic  Circle  to  feed  on  that 
which  will  best  keep  up  the  current  of  their  vitality.  Under 
another  condition  of  climate,  millions  subsist  on  rice.  But  the 
intellectual  calibre  of  both  fall  infinitely  below  those  in  temper- 
ate zones,  who  are  sustained  on  a  mixed  diet  of  flesh  and 
vegetables. 

Our  jaws  are  studded  with  four  distinct  kinds  of  teeth, — viz., 
incisors,  or  cutters,  in  front ;  canine,  called  eye-teeth,  for  tear- 
ing and  holding  firmly ;  single  and  double  molars,  exclusively 
for  grinding. 

Carnivorous  animals  have  no  grinders,  the  graminivorous  are 
without  the  canine,  as  they  appear  in  dogs,  lions,  tigers,  and  the 
like.  The  motion  of  their  jaws  is  up  and  down,  cutting  upon 
the  principle  of  shears,  with  no  sliding  movement.  Cattle, 
horses,  camels,  etc.,  grind  their  food  into  pulp  before  swallow- 
ing it. 

Man  both  cuts,  rends,  and  grinds.  In  short,  he  performs  all 
the  acts  in  preparing  food  for  the  stomach,  which  the  animals 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  301 

referred  to  perform  singly.  Thus,  anatomically,  is  a  proof 
found  of  his  omnivorous  nature. 

Passing  from  the  farther  consideration  of  the  omnivorous 
character  of  man,  to  qualify  him  for  a  general  superintendence 
of  the  earth's  surface,  it  may  be  fearlessly  asserted  that  those 
who  confine  themselves  exclusively  to  a  vegetable  diet,  will 
never  be  distinguished  for  their  intellectual  powers. 

A  flourish  of  trumpets  and  tempestuous  declamations  before 
weak-minded  audiences  of  converts  to  any  ism  which  happens 
to  be  promulgated  by  adventurers  for  notoriety,  occasionally 
secure  a  disciple  who  is  captivated  with  the  announcement  that 
we  were  designed  to  subsist  exclusively  on  vegetables. 

Their  physical  and  mental  deterioration  begins  when  they 
adopt  the  system.  A  temporary  brilliancy,  and  vaunted  clear- 
ness of  perception  is  imagined  to  result  from  an  abandonment 
of  animal  food  for  baked  apples,  boiled  turnips,  and  roasted 
potatoes. 

Rapsodies  from  a  change  of  habits  are  symptoms  of  ap- 
proaching lunacy. 

Women  require  a  mixed  diet.  They  should  take,  without 
reserve,  whatever  belongs  to  the  family  regimen.  This  is  not 
to  be  construed  into  an  arbitrary  system  of  dietetics,  from  which 
no  deviations  are  allowable.  Whatever  is  relished  and  digest- 
ible, is  proper. 

Meats  have  been  human  food  in  all  ages,  and  they  will  con- 
tinue to  be  served  while  humanity  remains  the  same. 

If  men  were  originally  monkeys,  they  probably  subsisted  as 
monkeys  now  do,  on  nuts  and  farinaceous  products.  When 
men  confine  themselves  exclusively  to  vegetable  food,  they  will 
dwindle  down  again  to  the  level  of  their  putative  ancestors. 

A  mixed  food  of  animal  and  vegetable  is  a  law  of  necessity 
in  temperate  zones. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

MrNTOR  SOUECES   OF  ANNOYANCE. 

Pride — Mutilations  without  Destroying  the  Intellect — Ligation  of  Limbs  by 
Elastics — Freckles — Epidermis — Moth  Patches — Nostrums — Grass  Food 
— Danger  of  Topical  Applications — Red  Noses — Astringent  Lotions — 
Smelling  Bottles — Stimulants — Appearing  to  Advantage. 

A  NATURAL  instinct  urges  TIB  to  appear  to  the  best  advan- 
tage before  others.  That  leads  to  placidity  of  deportment, 
propriety  of  conduct,  and  the  practice  of  courtesies  which  are 
agreeable,  if  not  essential,  to  a  good  understanding  with  those 
with  whom  we  are  associated. 

It  would  be  hardly  short  of  insanity  to  seek  opportunities 
for  disgusting  acquaintances  by  habits  offensive  to  decency  or 
the  common  usages  of  well-regulated  society. 

This  inborn  disposition  impels  us  to  efforts  for  improve- 
ment, and  to  conceal  defects,  real  or  imaginary,  that  might 
diminish  our  attractive  qualities.  External  appearances  have 
more  influence  with  the  majority  of  mankind  than  intellectual 
attainments  or  moral  excellences  of  character. 

When  pride  is  in  excess,  it  eventuates  in  ridiculous  exhibi- 
tions that  provoke  comment  and  biting  remarks.  With  a 
desire  to  improve  personal  appearance,  the  remedy  is  not  un- 
frequently  worse  than  the  defect.  Thus  wigs,  cheek-plumpers 
to  puff  out  hollow  mouth- walls,  artificial  eyebrows,  gum- 
elastic  bosoms,  wooden  calves  to  spindle-shanks,  and  some 
other  devices  for  appearing  developed  to  a  commendable 
standard  of  excellence,  cannot  escape  comment  when  the 
deception  has  been  discovered. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  303 

MUTILATIONS  POSSIBLE. 

There  is  a  story  illustrative  of  the  pruning  a  living  human 
body  may  pass  through,  without  destroying  life  or  apparently 
impairing  the  mind. 

"When  Miss  Jones  became  Mrs.  Brown,  the  happy  husband 
was  nearly  frightened  out  of  his  senses  by  the  extraordinary 
metamorphoses  through  which  she  passed.  He  had  gazed  with 
pride  on  Mrs.  Brown's  tine  proportions.. 

Knowing  her  to  be  a  woman  of  discretion,  whose  forty 
years  of  singleness  had  afforded  ample  opportunity  for  quali- 
fying the  charming  creature  for  superintending  the  genteel 
establishment  to  which  she  nad  been  matrimonially  introduced, 
Mr.  Brown  congratulated  himself  on  the  prospects  of  his 
domestic  future. 

Retiring,  Mrs.  Brown  first  removed  a  splendid  head  of  hair. 
Next,  on  taking  off  a  pair  of  gold-bowed  spectacles,  out  came 
one  eye.  Laying  both  on  a  table,  she  then  deliberately  with- 
drew a  double  set  of  milk-white  teeth.  Progressing,  a  full 
panting  bosom  was  unbuckled.  Taking  a  position  before  a 
mirror,  one  side  of  her  porcelain  nose  came  off.  Sitting  down, 
a  wooden  leg  was  unscrewed,  and  then  the  left  arm  just  below 
the  elbow ! 

Such  are  among  the  mutilations  possible,  without  in  the 
slightest  appreciable  manner  interfering  with  mental  oper- 
ations. 

All  artificial  appendages  which  improve  the  corporeal  pro- 
portions, while  contributing  to  the  comfort  and  sometimes  to 
the  necessities  of  the  individual,  are  allowable  and  should  be 
encouraged.  It  is  high  art  to  so  improve  and  conceal  defects 
which  are  unpleasant  objects  to  others. 

Dentistry  has  largely  contributed  to  the  restoration  of  im- 


304:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

paired  faces,  and  essentially  benefited  millions  whose  digestion 
was  defective  from  the  loss  of  teeth. 


WHAT  HAS  BEEN  NEGLECTED. 

Elastics  for  keeping  sleeves  and  stockings  in  place  have 
escaped  observation.  It  is  time  they  received  attention  from 
physiological  reformers  who  devote  themselves  to  teaching  the 
way  of  long  life  by  the  avoidance  of  popular  abuses,  self- 
imposed  and,  therefore,  the  more  difficult  to  remove. 

Those  girders  obstruct  a  return  of  blood  from  the  ex- 
tremities, through  superficial  veins,  and  therefore  should  be 
abandoned.  . 

A  reason  why  some  ladies  have  very  small,  bony  limbs,  AS 
because  they  have  not  blood  enough  circulating  in  them. 

Elastics  below  the  knee  block  the  cutaneous  veins;  and 
those  articles  under  the  name  of  sleeve-bands  worn  on  the 
arms,  obstruct  the  currents  in  both  arteries  and  veins,  as  they 
press  them  against  the  bone. 

Garters  do  not  produce  much  pressure  on  the  arteries,  as 
they  are  deep-seated  and  protected  from  compression  by  their 
favorable  location. 

Hose  should  be  kept  up  by  elastic  straps,  a  few  inches  in 
length,  extending  from  a  button  on  the  drawers  to  another  at 
the  top  of  the  stocking  on  each  limb.  That  simple  contrivance 
completely  relieves  the  vessels.  If  the  circulation  is  unim- 
peded, tne  limbs  will  develop  under  appropriate  exercise. 

FRECKLES. 

Freckles  are  regarded  as  afflictions.  Persons  of  a  light, 
florid  complexion,  especially  those  having  redish,  or  entirely  red 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  305 

hair,  more  generally  than  others,  are  apt  to  be  marred  with 
dingy  discoloration s  of  the  skin. 

Dark  hair,  dark  eyes,  and  dark  complexions  are  usually 
exempt  from  such  anti-beauty  spots. 

Freckles  cluster  under  the  lower  eyelids,  by  the  sides  of  the 
nose,  back  of  the  hands,  on  the  upper  part  of  the  neck,  or, 
indeed,  wherever  there  is  an  habitual  exposure  to  sunlight  in 
a  particularly  warm  season. 

Washes,  lotions,  teas,  etc.,  without  number,  are  everywhere 
on  sale,  represented  as  efficient  in  the  removal  of  such  defects. 
But  they  are  utterly  useless,  doing  damage  rather  than  reliev- 
ing the  skin  from  offensive  dingy  discolorations,  freckles,  or 
yellow  irregular  patches. 

Exclusion  from  solar  light  is  a  precaution,  in  the  brightest 
part  of  the  day.  A  veil  is  unquestionably  a  partial  defence 
against  intense  rays  of  a  brilliant  sun,  which  corrugate  the  skin 
where  the  coloring  pigment  under  it  is  thin  or  scantily 
secreted. 

The  epidermis,  or  first  skin,  is  both  thickened  and  cor- 
rugated at  intervals  of  a  few  lines,  by  exposure  to  the  sun's 
rays  in  many  persons.  Those  of  a  nervous,  sanguine  tempera- 
ment, and  of  a  light  complexion,  are  most  susceptible  to 
freckling  influences. 

It  is  consolatory  to  believe  in  the  theory  that  freckles  are 
protecting  shields  to  parts  immediately  under  them,  particu- 
larly when  the  attempt  to  remove  them  is  unsuccessful. 

That  freckles  prevent  the  passage  of  some  of  the  prismatic 
rays  from  reaching  something  that  ought  not  to  be  impinged 
upon  by  them,  is  rather  an  assumption,  than  susceptible  of 
proof. 

Whether  pores,  or  twigs  of  cutaneous  nerves,  are  protected 
from  injuries  that  might  ensue,  were  it  not  for  thickened  places 


306  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

in  the  outer  tissue,  requires  more  and  closer  observation  than 
the  subject  has  hitherto  received. 

Freckles  are  both  mechanical  and  chemical  barriers  to 
properties  in  sunlight  that  would  inflict  an  injury,  if  not 
intercepted.  Such  is  the  imagined  origin  of  them  with  those 
who  have  more  imagination  than  facts  to  build  upon. 

Possibly,  extreme  minute  capillary  vessels  are  protected  in 
their  labors  by  being  covered  by  a  thicker  scale — for  such  is  a 
freckle.  Where  there*  is  one,  it  is  a  darker,  thicker  spot  than 
the  space  between  any  two  of  them. 

MOTH  SPOTS. 

Moth-patches,  as  they  are  called,  being  irregularly  defined 
discolorations  of  a  yellowish  hue,  commonly  appear  about  the 
chin,  the  base  of  the  ears,  on  the  forehead,  and,  indeed,  just 
where  they  are  conspicuously  in  sight:  oftenest  on  the  faces 
of  ladies  of  a  lax  habit.  Nursing  women,  and  those  who  pass 
much  of  their  time  in  poorly  ventilated  apartments,  are  most 
predisposed  to  such  unwelcome  appearances. 

No  calculation  can  be  made  respecting  their  duration. 
Young  mothers  are  sometimes  suddenly  surprised  by  those 
yellow  markings.  Ladies,  too,  in  middle  life,  without  any 
assignable  cause,  are  also  the  occasional  subjects  of  moth- 
spots. 

Quacks  and  nostrum-venders  hold  out  encouragement  for 
their  removal  by  applications  of  secret  compositions.  But 
there  is  no  utility  in  their  farragos. 

NEW  APPLICATION  OF  STEAM. 

A  process  has  been  successfully  practised  of  late  for  the 
removal  of  those  disagreeable  discolorations,  which  is  unobjec- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  307 

tionable,  and  far  better  than  dosing  with  internal  medicine  that 
can  have  no  efficacy  whatever. 

The  place  is  covered  by  a  cup,  from  the  bottom  of  which 
extends  an  elastic  tube  communicating  with  a  vessel  generating 
steam.  The  hot  vapor  is  thus  applied  at  a  bearable  tempera- 
ture, to  thoroughly  soften  the  skin  to  a  point  that  it  may  easily 
be  rubbed  off  by  the  linger  on  removing  the  cup. 

That  parboiling  process  also  softens  the  pigment,  which 
also  slides  off  from  the  cutis  vera,  or  true  skin. 

A  return  -of  the  yellowish  coloring  matter  may  gradually 
reappear.  Application  of  the  steam-vapor  a  few  times,  at  the 
same  time  circulating  freely  in  open  air,  rarely  fails  of 
accomplishing  the  object. 

On  peeling  off  the  mothy  skin,  cover  the  denuded  surface 
with  gold-beater's  membrane  or  thin  court-plaster,  in  order  to 
exclude  the  air  for  a  few  days. 

AVOIDANCE  OF  CAUSES. 

Gross  food,  such  as  too  frequent  meat-eating, -pepper,  vine- 
gar, or  irregularities  in  diet,  are  thought  to  contribute  to 
moth-spot  development. 

Pimples,  elevated  purple  aureolar  discs,  minute  vegetations 
near  the  wings  of  the  nose,  clusters  of  black  dots,  and  hard, 
gnarly  moles  on  the  face,  cannot  always  be  removed  without 
excision. 

There  is  absolute  danger  from  the  topical  application  of  so 
many  falsely-named  medicinal  remedies;  the  compositions, 
when  known,  being  invariably  condemned  by  physicians.  It 
is  never  safe  to  tamper  with  drugs  of  any  kind  ;  neither  pills, 
powders,  nor  fluids,  however  prominently  recommended,  with- 
out approval  of  a  medical  adviser. 


308  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

In  taking  preparations,  the  ingredients  of  which  are 
unknown  to  any  but  those  interested  in  the  profits,  difficulties 
are  produced,  not  unfrequently  far  more  serious  than  the 
minor  ailment  for  which  they  were  given. 

A  RED  NOSE. 

A  red  nose  on  a  lady's  face  is  an  extreme  mortification. 
Sometimes  an  intense  shining  redness  remains  a  fixture  for 
months  in  succession,  unaffected  either  by  external  or  internal 
medications.  An  engorgement  of  cutaneous  blood-vessels  on 
the  cheeks  or  nose  resists  discutient  applications  far  more  obsti- 
nately than  inflammations  on  other  parts  of  the  body. 

Sometimes  the  tip  of  the  nose  is  of  a  shining  tumid  redness. 
The  vessels  of  the  skin  are  in  a  permanent  state  of  inflammation. 
Cooling  lotions  rather  aggravate  than  ameliorate  the  tumefac- 
tion, which  is  opposed  to  the  theory  that  excessive  local  heat 
can  be  reduced  by  cold  applications. 

Lead  water  also  aggravates  the  condition ;  and  worse  still, 
if  persisted  in  too  long,  results  in  a  loss  of  sensibility  at  the  tip, 
by  producing  a  paralysis  of  the  cutaneous  nerves  distributed 
there. 

For  a  red  nose,  mild  treatment  is  safer  and  more  successful 
than  harsh  measures.  If  air  and  light  are  excluded,  very  easily 
accomplished  by  a  covering  properly  fitted  through  the  night, 
and  much  of  the  time  through  the  day,  considerable  relief  may 
be  anticipated. 

But  the  best  method  to  pursue  is,  to  apply  soft,  emollient 
applications,  mildly  warm.  Fine  Indian-meal,  in  the  form  of  a 
poultice,  mixed  in  alum-water,  should  be  worn  through  the 
night.  Follow  up  the  practice  without  intermission,  for  weeks. 
It  is  best  not  to  have  the  mixture  very  astringent  at  first.  The 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  309 

astringency  may  be  gradually  increased  by  a  solution  of  more 
alum. 

The  skin  "becomes  gradually  softened,  the  enlarged  vessels 
diminish,  and,  as  the  inflammation  subsides,  the  redness  disap- 
pears. 

When  the  poultice  is  removed  on  rising  in  the  morning, 
favor  the  partially-parboiled  surface  with  a  soft  piece  of  oil- 
cloth, pierced  with  orifices  for  seeing,  breathing,  and  using  the 
mouth. 

Avoid  smelling-bottles,  pungent  odors,  snuff,  and  all  other 
irritants  of  the  nasal  cavities,  when  a  tendency  to  an  engorge- 
ment about  the  wings  or  the  nose  itself  exists. 

A  caution  in  regard  to  liquors  may  be  unnecessary  to 
ladies  ;  however,  it  is  certain  that  any  extra  excitement  which 
drives  the  blood  rapidly  would  be  an  aggravation  of  inflamed 
patches  on  the  face. 

Red-nosed  smokers  must  abandon  their  idol,  if  they  have  a 
desire  to  recover  their  once  good  appearance.  A  volatilization 
of  the  essential  oil,  or  whatever  property  is  diffused  in  the  smoke 
from  a  cigar  or  pipe,  seems  to  add  fuel  to  the  inflammation. 

Women  being  less  prone  to  the  use  of  stimulants  than  men, 
and  less  exposed  to  various  demoralizing  influences  from  pro 
fane  and  vulgar  associations,  escape  many  ills  which  are  incident 
to  weak  and  thoughtless  men. 

Women  are  occasionally  seen  with  red  noses,  and  morbidly 
flushed  cheeks,  who  are  egregiously  imposed  upon  in  their  haste 
for  relief.  They  are  duped  into  purchasing  vaunted  specific  re- 
medies that  have  not  the  least  medicinal  virtue. 

If  ladies  have  more  credulity  than  men,  happily,  they  have 
fewer  sins. 

Many  precious  lives  are  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  female 
vanity,  in  the  earnest  pursuit  of  phantoms. 


310       .  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Every  woman  exerts  herself  to  appear  to  the  best  advantage. 
That  prompts  them  to  appear  neat  and  tidy  in  their  persons, 
and  if  they  have  blemishes,  real  or  imaginary,  they  strive  to 
remedy  the  defect  as  speedily  as  possible. 

That  is  why  they  are  patrons  of  all  sorts  of  advertised  nos- 
trums which  promise  more  than  can  be  performed.  When 
all  women  are  dead,  there  will  be  no  more  sale  for  patent 
medicines. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
THEIR  PECULIAR  ORGANIZATION". 

To  point  out  all  the  anatomical  differences  of  the  sexes,  is 
not  contemplated.  No  subject  would  be  more  difficult  to 
popularize,  and,  were  it  accomplished,  there  would  still  be 
problems  unsatisfactorily  *  managed  to  meet  the  theoretical 
views  of  those  who  are  always  ready  with  objections,  even  when 
nature  bears  witness  to  the  statements  and  deductions  of 
medical  philosophers. 

From  childhood  to  age,  there  is  a  marked  difference  between 
men  and  women  in  their  physical  structure  and  appearance. 
Moral  qualities  are  laid  aside  in  this  examination. 

There  is  a  delicacy  in  the  very  bones  of  a  female,  that  con- 
trasts singularly  with  the  strong,  hard,  rough  skeleton  of  the 
male.  But  in  some  of  the  carpentry  of  the  osseous  system,  it 
is  obvious  that  intelligent  reference  is  manifested  in  the  varia- 
tions recognized  by  anatomists  to  specific  purposes  which  do 
not  exist  iu  the  male. 

With  the  same  number  of  bones,  arranged  in  the  same 
order,  and  fulfilling  the  same  offices,  and  moved  by  precisely 
similar  muscles,  influenced  by  nerves  exactly  like  those  in  man, 
yet  a  woman  is  not  a  man.  She  is  of  mankind,  and  yet  she  is 
by  herself. 

Though  of  a  finer  texture,  and  operated  upon  by  subtle 
influences,  regulated  by  a  law  of  periodicity  past  finding  out, 
she  is  really  no  more  complex  than  a  strong,  athletic  barbarian 
in  her  physical  economy. 


312  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

A  woman  is  not  a  perfect  being  by  herself,  neither  is  a  man. 
The  two  constitute  one,  and  that  is  a  relation  contemplated 
from  the  beginning  by  the  Power  that  fashioned  them.  From 
birth  up  to  a  pubert  age,  some  parts  of  their  system  have  been 
so  slowly  developing,  the  physiologist  is  perplexed  in  his 
attempts  to  make  plain  an  interesting  chapter  regarding  the 
phenomena  of  development. 

While  the  brain  enlarges  in  volume,  the  limbs  lengthen, 
the  muscles  increase  in  bulk  and  strength,  essential  organs  in 
the  economy  of  animal  life  remain  quiescent  for  years.  Per- 
haps it  is  better  to  say  apparently  at  rest — performing  no  office 
for  a  long  while.  That  apparent  quiescence  is  undoubtedly  a 
period  of  extraordinary  changes,  with  reference  to  a  revolution 
which  changes  the  child  to  a  woman. 

Precisely  so  are  the  conditions  of  boys  through  years  of 
adolescence.  At  thirteen  or  fourteen,  in  most  countries,  a 
change  of  voice  and  the  appearance  of  a  beard  indicate  a  sudden 
advance  made  from  an  imperfect  to  a  perfectly  organized  man. 

An  early  maturity  characterizes  animals  generally.  In- 
sects have  an  exceedingly  rapid  series  of  evolutions.  To  be 
born  and  become  the  parents  of  a  numerous  offspring  in  a 
single  day,  and  then  give  way  to  a  coming  generation,  are 
extraordinary  circumstances.  Those  living  longest  are  the 
slowest  in  being  physically  perfected. 

Poets  have  exhausted  their  magazines  of  imagery  in  their 
meditations  on  the  helplessness  of  infancy.  But  the  compen- 
sation for  those  years  of  incapacity  of  body  and  mind  for  any 
of  the  responsibilities  of  life,  is  found  in  the  longevity  of  the 
race.  The  average  of  existence  far  surpasses  the  life  lease  of 
the  general  animal  kingdom. 

This  subject  will  have  special  consideration  in  the  chapter 
on  longevity. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN  313 

Whether  the  moon  exerts  any  more  influence  on  the  adult 
female  than  on  the  adult  man,  is  left  open  for  the  discussion  of 
professors  in  their  official  intercourse  with  their  pupils.  "Were 
some  learned  pundit  to  assert  the  planet  Mars,  rather  than 
the  cold  moon,  the  controlling  power,  who  is  able  to  con- 
fute it? 

There  are  peculiarities  of  structure  and  functions  of  our- 
selves, which  are  divine  mysteries.  ^Nature  eludes  our  best 
concerted  efforts  for  watching  processes  in  her  laboratories. 
Ever  vigilant  and  uncommunicative,  we  are  still  profoundly 
ignorant  of  what  we  most  desire  to  know. 

We  know  how  life  terminates,  but  who  knows  how  it 
begins  ? 


CHAPTEE  XXVI. 

THEIR  MALADIES. 

A  Repetition  of  Facts  and  Opinions  in  preceding  Chapters — Childhood — Trans- 
plantation of  Men  and  Women — Too  much  Comfort — Diseased  Lungs — 
The  Chest — A  Stitch  in  the  side — Incidental  Infelicities — Temperature — 
Family  Failures — Dosing  too  much. 

REFINEMENTS  are  accompanied  by  a  train  of  discomforts, 
particularly  severe  upon  women. 

Unfortunately,  an  impression  prevails  just  where  it  ought 
not  to  be  entertained,  that  their  organization  is  so  delicate  they 
cannot  have  exposure  to  air,  exercise,  labor,  or  play,  such  as  men 
are  exposed  to  without  detriment  to  their  health. 

As  already  explained,  their  anatomical  structure  is  no  more 
complex  than  that  of  males.  There  is  a  delicacy  and  a  finer 
finish,  if  that  expression  is  allowable,  but  otherwise  there  is 
nothing  in  the  form  or  development  of  the  female  body  which 
indicates  its  unfitness  to  resist  atmospheric  changes  or  any  in- 
fluences from  without,  which  the  physical  constitution  of  the 
other  sex  can  successfully  withstand  with  impunity. 

Hardships  are  met  with  in  all  conditions  of  life.  Pleasures 
and  pains  are  about  equally  divided.  Finally,  there  is  no  special 
reason  why  women  should  not  be  as  free  from  sickness  or  indis- 
position from  ordinary  causes,  and  endure  as  much  and  as  long 
as  men,  all  other  things  being  equal. 

Hereditary  infirmities,  such  as  scrofula  and  pulmonary  con- 
sumption, appertain  to  some  families.  Easy  circumstances 
present  no  reliable  modifying  conditions  that  promise  less  suf- 
fering than  is  to  be  met  with  in  abodes  of  poverty. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  315 

CHILDHOOD. 

Among  the  poor  a  deficiency  of  proper  kinds  of  nourish- 
ment in  childhood  leads  to  physical  conditions  which  are 
troublesome  in  adult  years.  Especially  so  in  regard  to  female 
children.  Restrained  as  they  generally  are  from  out-door  exer- 
cise, allowed  to  boys,  and  restricted  most  unfortunately,  more 
frequently  than  otherwise,  to  small,  badly  ventilated  apartments, 
their  domestic  pursuits  ordinarily  being  sewing,  or  of  a  kind 
that  keeps  them  most  of  the  day  and  all  of  the  night  in  social 
imprisonment — they  grow  up  with  less  firmness  of  bone  and 
muscle  than  their  brothers,  since  no  one  cares  whether  their 
faces  are  tanned  by  the  sun,  or  their  feet  are  wet  by  wading  in 
gutters. 

Frequent  exposure  to  wind  and  weather,  without  refer- 
ence to  temperature  or  humidity,  does  very  much  toward  build- 
ing up  a  hardy  body.  Being  kept  from  such  influences  debili- 
tates, and  those  thus  reared  possess  feeble  powers  of  resistance. 
A  boy  braves  the  storm,  while  the  girl  wilts  and  fades  away 
under  circumstances  of  home  discipline,  that  robust,  stirring, 
boys  could  not  endure. 

On  reaching  womanhood,  a  girl  is  not  able  to  resist  influences 
that  destroy  her,  while  young  men  contend  with  the  same  con- 
tingencies without  being  moved  by  them  in  respect  to  health. 

"When  the  teeth  show  defects  as  early  as  fourteen  to  sixteen 
— not  unfrequently  much  sooner — it  is  pretty  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  premature  death  of  those  organs,  resulting  from  an  in- 
sufficient supply  of  phosphate  of  lime.  The  bones  are  not 
usually  so  well  grown  nor  so  strong  in  young  misses  whose  teeth 
exhibit  a  paucity  of  that  .element,  necessary  for  the  perfect 
development  of  the  whole  osseous  structure. 

"We  have  already  shown  that  in  agricultural  regions,  where 


316  THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

cereal  grains  are  easily  and  abundantly  cultivated,  the  people 
are  taller  and  their  bones  are  both  larger  and  stronger  than  the 
bones  of  those  who  live  where  crops  are  only  sparingly  raised. 

In  Western  wheat-growing  districts  the  inhabitants  are  pro- 
verbial for  white,  beautifully-set,  sound  teeth.  When  those 
materials,  which  once  gave  from  forty  to  fifty  bushels  to  an  acre, 
have  been  exhausted  by  continuous  culture,  without  returning 
to  the  soil  an  equivalent  for  what  has  been  drawn  from  it, 
the  product  dwindles  to  fiiten  or  twenty  bushels.  Then  de- 
fective teeth  begin  to  appear  in  young  persons.  The  third 
generation,  on  the  same  ground,  deteriorate  in  stature.  Short 
men  and  women,  descendants  of  stalwart  parents  in  the  same 
locality,  would  have  been  as  tall  and  as  perfect  as  their  grand- 
parents, had  they  been  provided  with  the  amount  of  phosphate 
of  lime  they  received  in  their  youth. 

With  an  increase  of  population,  and  diminished  products  in 
a  once  fertile  grain-growing  area,  the  result  of  long-continued 
tillage,  the  inhabitants  begin  to  seek  new  homes.  This  is  the 
commencement  in  this  country  of  removals  to  new  lands  farther 
off,  which  are  rich.  An  improvement  in  the  physical  aspect, 
and,  certainly,  in  the  height  of  children  born  in  the  new  locality, 
is  noticeable  when  they  reach  an  adult  age. 

In  cities,  a  change  of  diet,  even  though  they  may  have  come 
from  the  pure  atmosphere  of  the  country,  not  unfrequently 
immensely  benefits  some  persons  by  the  removal.  It  is  because 
their  systems  are  provided  with  elements  necessary  for  a  com- 
plete development  of  their  bodies,  which  their  habitual  food  in 
the  interior  did  not  furnish. 

Change  of  location  is  often  quite  as  favorable,  in  a  physical 
point  of  view,  as  change  of  position,  after  sitting  for  hours  on 
the  same  seat.  That  law  of  change,  in  relation  to  man  and 
animals,  is  recognized  in  another  form,  in  respect  to  a  rotation 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  317 

of  crops.  It  is  a  gross  mistake  to  attempt  raising  on  the  same 
ground,  perpetually,  one  kind  of  product.  There  must  be 
alternations,  which  afford  opportunity  for  Mature  to  replace,  in 
her  own  way,  elements  that  are  taken  away,  and  then,  after 
awhile,  the  grain  that  had  exhausted  fertility  may  succeed 
again. 

BEST. 

JSTo  people  have  ever  managed  a  farming  interest  so  philo- 
sophically as  the  Jews,  while  they  observed  the  requirements  of 
their  great  lawgiver.  Every  seventh  year  the  land  rested  one 
year.  It  gave  it  time  simply  for  garnering  up  a  new  store  of 
salts  for  raising  subsequent  crops. 

In  avenues  of  trade,  handicraft,  or  in  the  exercise  of  profes- 
sions, competition  calls  into  activity  parts  of  the  brain  which,  in 
rural  life,  were  almost,  if  not  quite,  dormant. 

The  transfer  of  some  of  their  vitality  from  the  muscles,  as  in 
holding  a  plow,  or  reaping  a  field,  requiring  no  vigorous  effort 
of  mind,  to  the  busy  scenes  and  stirring  enterprises  of  a  great 
mercantile  establishment,  brings  out  intellectual  force  in  country 
boys  they  were  not  conscious  of  possessing. 

By  degrees  their  faculties  are  systematized ;  they  grasp  at 
great  undertakings  in  commerce,  and  when  the  brain  has  been 
educated  to  the  new  order  of  things,  mental  friction  subsides, 
and  slender  boys  become  portly  gentlemen,  bold  calculators,  in- 
trepid contractors  with  government,  bank  directors,  and  far- 
seeing  financiers. 

TKANSPLANTATION  OF  MEN-. 

Society  is  immensely  advanced,  as  a  city  is,  in  being  recruit- 
ed from  the  honest  farmer's  one-story  house. 


318  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

A  transplantation  of  men  and  women  is  as  important  for 
the  progress  of  society  as  the  removal  of  trees  from  their  native 
soil  to  ornament  public  parks. 

Choice  fruit-trees  are  invariably  taken  from  a  nursery  while 
young,  because  they  acclimate  and  accommodate  themselves  to 
the  circumstances  of  a  new  locality. 

Old  trees  cannot  be  removed  so  readily.  They  die  sooner 
than  expected.  Nothing  is  gained,  either  in  quality  or  quantity, 
by  running  counter  to  those  general  laws  which  are  recognized 
by  the  uneducated  as  violations,  when  plants  and  children  are 
rudely  handled,  or  old  trees  or  old  persons  are  expected  to  do  as 
well  in  new  conditions,  as  when  left  to  themselves  in  places 
where  their  habits  have  been  established,  and  their  growth 
matured. 

Select  boys  and  girls  for  removal  to  new  spheres  of  life,  as  a 
shrubbery  is  chosen,  for  healthful  appearance,  vigor,  and  flexi- 
bility. They  can  then  be  handled  with  impunity,  and  made  to 
develop  where  they  will  be  both  useful,  beautiful,  and  orna- 
mental. 

With  females,  a  change  of  residence,  from  rural  freedom  in 
a  country  home  to  a  city,  is  not  so  satisfactory  in  all  respects,  as 
with  boys.  Conventionalities  in  elevated  circles  keep  them 
under  too  much  restraint  for  a  play  of  the  vital  machinery. 

When  they  come  to  town  with  impaired  health,  it  is  some- 
times extremely  advantageous  to  an  enfeebled  young  lady  to 
have  the  stimulus  of  a  maritime  residence ;  or  in  being  trans- 
ported to  an  inland  town,  where  they  escape  the  humidity  of 
easterly  winds,  or  long,  wet,  cold  springs,  that  were  causes  of 
indisposition  in  the  locality  whence  they  came. 

On  being  established  in  town,  they  find  it  customary,  if  not 
necessary,  to  adopt  quite  a  new  mode  of  life,  which,  in  connec- 
tion with  close  dwellings,  heated  by  furnaces,  instead  of  an  open 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  319 

fireplace,  with  a  cheerful  glow  of  blazing  wood,  together  with 
regulations  and  preparations  for  the  breakfast-table  in  one  dress, 
for  a  promenade  in  another,  at  the  dinner-table  in  something 
else,  and  lastly,  for  the  drawing-room,  in  still  another  change  of 
costume ;  and  all  those,  independently  of  very  formidable  and 
elaborate  transformations  for  the  opera,  are  direct  sources  of 
debility,  and,  certainly,  of  great  fatigue.  She  must  have  a  re- 
markable constitution  to  withstand  so  many  and  unrelaxing 
causes  of  indisposition. 

Too  MUCH  COMFORT. 

Women  break  down  under  too  much  domestic  comfort, 
sooner  than  under  domestic  hardships.  Thus,  people,  whose 
days  and  nights  are  a  series  of  excitements,  high  living,  and 
irregular  hours,  scarcely  ever  number  as  many  years  as  those 
who  are  obliged  to  contend  with  poverty  and  privations.  It 
is  among  females  in  the  latter  condition  that  extreme  longevity 
is  found. 

Men  fly  about  in  open  air,  inflating  their  lungs  with  refresh- 
ing properties,  while  their  beautiful  wives  and  daughters,  with 
pale  faces  and  tallowy  complexions,  are  lounging  on  sofas,  com- 
plaining of  ennui.  How  many  of  them  fall  like  promising 
blossoms  before  the  fruit  is  set,  killed  by  kindness.  Such  is  too 
much  civilization. 

Travelling  for  health  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  ranging 
about  for  vitality,  which  all  the  rich  can  neither  find  nor  pur- 
chase, while  the  poor  have  it  forced  upon  them  through  broken 
panes  and  cracks  in  the  walls. 

They  are  pitied  because  their  lot  is  hard.  They  have  no 
luxuries  for  their  stomachs ;  no  two  thousand  dollar  shawl  to 
protect  their  white  shoulders;  no  velvet  ottomans  for  their 
feet ;  no  frescoed  apartments  to  suffocate  in,  nor  down  beds  for 


320  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

sleeping  away  life  in  idleness.  But  they  have  what  money 
cannot  procure  or  physicians  furnish,  viz.,  rosy  cheeks,  sound 
lungs,  white  teeth,  a  good  appetite,  and  other  requisites  for 
reaching  three  score  and  ten  without  converting  their  homes 
into  a  hospital. 

A  consumptive  diathesis  is  most  commonly  transmitted  from 
the  mother.  Whether  induced  in  them  by  exposures,  hardships, 
or  transmitted  to  them  from  ancestors,  cannot  always  be  ascer- 
tained. If  there  were  no  consumptive  mothers,  however,  there 
would  be  fewer  victims  of  that  frightful  malady. 

DISEASED  LUNGS. 

Nature  is  always  •  conservative.  The  effort  is  invariably  to 
repair,  restore  impaired  parts,  and  to  strengthen  where  there  is 
weakness. 

There  is  a  contest  between  life  and  death  in  cases  where  the 
partitions  between  the  air-cells  of  the  lungs  are  ulcerated,  and 
the  function  of  respiration  is,  of  course,  imperfectly  performed. 
Blood  sent  there  does  not  obtain  as  much  oxygen  as  the  body 
requires. 

Ulcerations  extend  and  pus  accumulates  till  in  advanced 
stages  of  the  disease  extensive  abscesses  are  formed,  and  cavities 
are  'distended,  with  thick,  adhesive,  offensive  fluid.  Breathing 
becomes  more  impeded  and  death  ensues. 

Usually  only  one  lung  is  involved  in  the  manner  described. 
Were  it  within  the  province  of  surgery,  as  it  probably  will  be 
at  no  very  remote  period,  when  there  is  more  confidence  in  the 
resources  of  that  great  art  and  less  timidity  among  operators, 
that  half  of  the  chest  containing  a  disorganized  lung  will  be 
opened  for  the  extraction  of  the  useless,  diseased  lobe. 

When  air  enters  the  pleural  cavity,  the  lung  collapses  in- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  321 

stantly.  It  would  be  relieved  from  inflation,  and  in  that  way 
set  at  rest.  The  sound  lung  on  the  other  side,  completely  sepa- 
rated by  a  partition,  and  in  its  own  pleural  box,  would  sustain 
life  unaided  by  its  fellow. 

Teachers  of  surgery  set  forth  in  frightful  array  the  fatal 
effects  of  an  inflammation  of  the  pleura, — the  lining  membrane 
of  the  thorax, — should  air  be  admitted  to  it. 

Let  them  devise  methods  to  prevent  its  access.  No  domain 
of  operative  surgery  is  so  miserably  handled  as  that  of  the  chest. 
No  progress  has  been  made  there  in  a  hundred  years. 

There  are  thousands  of  medical  men  who  remember  the 
perpetual  caution  impressed  upon  them  in  their  pupilage,  not  to 
wound  the  peritoneum.  Even  a  puncture  was  to  be  avoided 
with  scrupulous  care,  because  it  was  a  serous  tissue. 

On  account  of  that  bugbear  of  apprehended  fatal  inflamma- 
tion, peritonitis  was  managed  with  difficulty.  Now,  in  the  ex- 
traction of  ovarian  tumors — nowhere  more  skilfully  performed 
than  in  the  United  States — but  few  out  of  many  are  lost,  and 
yet  incisions  through  that  membrane  are  extensive  in  ovari- 
atomy. 

Many  women  have  died  of  those  enlargements  in  past  times, 
who  might  have  been  saved,  had  there  been  more  accurate 
knowledge  of  what  course  to  pursue  in  treating  the  peritoneum. 

The  late  Dr.  Mott  remarked  to  a  medical  gentleman,  while 
both  were  observing  the  progress  of  an  operation  involving 
parts  he  was  cautioned  in  his  youth  to  avoid,  "  Why,  they  cut 
the  peritoneum  now-a-days  as  heedlessly  as  they  would  cut  an 
old  shoe." 

THE  CHEST. 

The  lining  membrane  of  the  chest  is  also  a  serous  one,  per- 
forming an  office  very  similar  to  that  which  lines  the  abdominal 


322  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

cavity — viz.,  pouring  out  a  fluid  for  lubricating  the  organs 
within. 

When  that  fluid  is  in  excess,  the  absorbents  failing  to  take 
it  away,  the  accumulation  is  a  dropsy.  To  draw  it  off  artifi- 
cially, an  instrument  called  a  trocar  is  resorted  to. 

A  puncture  being  made,  the  fluid  is  drawn  off.  The  opera- 
tion is  substantially  the  same  in  relieving  the  chest,  but  not  so 
often  performed,  as  the  inflammation  apprehended  is  considered 
more  difficult  to  control. 

There  is  considerable  unoccupied  ground  in  the  domain  of 
surgery.  The  coming  operator  who  has  boldness  enough — and 
it  will  be  called  daring — to  cut  into  the  chest,  and  take  out 
diseased  portions  of  a  diseased  lung,  will  secure  great  fame. 

The  right  and  left  lobes  open  into  one  common  tube ;  but  if 
the  branch  pipe  on  either  side  were  closed,  the  supply  of  air 
would  be  inhaled  as  before  into  the  lung  whose  tube  was 
free. 

Not  to  enlarge  further  on  this  subject,  deserving  as  it  is  of 
careful  consideration,  it  may  be  asserted  that  many  persons  at 
this  present  moment  are  in  vigorous  health,  who  have  only  one 
lung. 

Gun-shot  wounds,  bayonet,  stiletto,  and  sabre-thrusts,  have 
often  punctured  the  thorax,  and  terrific  violence  to  the  lungs 
did  not  prove  fatal. 

A  STITCH  IK  THE  SIDE. 

In  severe  pleurisy,  adhesions  are  formed  between  the  sur- 
face of  the  pleura  costalis  and  the  one  covering  the  lung. 
As  the  lung  thus  tied  begins  to  inflate,  there  is  a  sharp,  painful 
sensation,  called  stitch  in  the  side,  which  prevents  a  full 
inspiration. 

When  inflammation  has  subsided,  the  individual  gradually 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  323 

begins  to  inhale  a  larger  volume  of  air.  The  bridle  which  held 
the  lung,  so  that  it  could  not  be  inflated  without  pain,  gradually 
elongates,  and  finally  normal  breathing  is  reestablished. 

Females  appear  more  prone  to  pleurisy,  or  aggra- 
vated inflammation  of  the  lungs,  than  men.  The  manner 
of  ligating  the  waist  prevents  the  descent  of  the  lungs  with  the 
fall  of  the  diaphragm  to  where  they  ought  to  have  gone  in  a 
full  inspiration. 

Girding  the  body  with  stays  diminishes  the  lower  end  of 
the  thorax.  Its  capacity  is  unnaturally  small.  Long  practice 
has  fixed  the  ribs  where  they  are  permanently  held. 

Such  compression  deranges  the  abdominal  viscera.  The 
lungs  are  forced  higher  up.  Chafing,  as  they  do,  through  a 
triangular  membranous  space  at  the  root  of  the  neck,  the  sharp 
horizontal  edge  of  the  first  rib  creates  inflammation,  and  that 
degenerates  into  something  worse.  Matter  forms,  and  cell 
after  cell  is  laden  with  the  accumulating  pus. 

The  mechanical  effect  of  girding  the  waist  has  been 
explained.  A  full  inflation  of  the  lungs  keeps  gradually 
forcing  the  upper  part  upwardly,  till  ultimately  a  portion  rises 
above  the  level  of  the  first  rib. 

This  is  the  origin  of  many  a  case  of  consumption,  developed 
by  tampering  with  the  body  to  make  it  take  a  form  which 
is  contemplated  as  an  improvement.  The  penalty  is  a  life 
of  suffering  to  many,  and  premature  death  to  a  majority 
of  all  who  have  been  made  over  in  the  barbarous  manner  so 
much  admired  by  ladies. 

Youth  and  beauty  are  sacrificed  to  the  demands  of  a  per- 
verted taste.  Thousands  of  brilliant  young  ladies  have  been 
carried  to  the  grave,  victims  of  stays,  busks,  and  unyielding 
corsets,  the  real  cause  of  their  premature  death  not  being 
suspected. 


324  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

INCIDENTAL  INFELICITIES. 

There  are  indispositions  of  a  temporary  kind  improperly 
considered  as  inevitable  results  of  female  organization.  This 
not  being  a  treatise  on  therapeutics,  nor  aspiring  to  the  pro- 
vince of  a  physician,  no  details  in  regard  to  medicine-taking 
are  attempted. 

If  women  reflected  upon  the  mission  devolving  upon  them 
with  more  earnestness,  the/  could  not  fail  to  perceive  that  they 
have  not  been  forced  into  existence  to  suffer,  nor  to  die  pre- 
maturely. .  Their  organization  has  incorporated  with  it  com- 
pensating powers  of  resistance. 

If  women  are  the  weaker  sex,  or  in  any  respect  inferior  to 
men,  the  cause  of  it  is  a  fault  of  civilization. 

Direct  causes  of  functional  derangements,  out  of  which  grave 
difficulties  arise,-  are  traceable  to  actual  violations  of  sanitary 
laws. 

Too  light  clothing,  improper  food,  imperfect  nutrition,  the 
wild  waywardness  of  passion,  the  seductions  of  fashion,  and  the 
pride  to  look  better  than  they  fancy  they  appear,  and  striving 
to  improve  their  form  to  correspond  with  an  ideal  model  of 
exterior  perfection, — are  each  and  all  of  them  dangerous,  and, 
when  carried  too  far,  eventuate  in  some  form  of  sickness. 

Why  should  not  a  woman  be  clothed  as  warmly  as  a  man  ? 
That  question  is  not  a  new  one. 

TEMPERATURE. 

A  notion  prevails,  and  perhaps  not  entirely  without  reason, 
that  their  ordinary  temperature  is  higher  than  the  vital  heat  of 
men  under  precisely  the  same  circumstances. 

Admitting  it  were  so,  that  they  have  less  need  of  thick 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  325 

clothing,  it  fails  to  explain  why  they  are  ever  dressed  in  such 
frail  fabrics  as  are  scarcely  sufficient  to  resist  a  zephyr.  Most 
of  their  garments  are  rapid  conductors  of  caloric. 

Mothers  cannot  be  ignorant  of  this  fact,  that  the  clothing 
of  their  girls  is  far  lighter  and  less  substantial  than  that  of 
their  boys. 

It  has  been  heralded  from  Dan  to  Beersheba,  in  treatises  ex- 
pressly written  for  the  instruction  of  females,  and  by  warning 
voices,  that  the  present  method  of  clothing  young  girls  in  this 
fitful  climate  is  wrong. 

But  it  amounts  to  nothing.  There  is  no  improvement.  An 
appalling  percentage  are  doomed  to  die  before  they  become 
responsible  beings. 

More  females  than  "males,  according  to  necrological  re- 
ports, die  annually  of  consumption.  Were  men  subjected  to 
the  same  stay-discipline  from  a  tender  age,  their  ribs  distorted, 
and  their  lungs  preternaturally  operating  in  a  place  too  small 
for  the  oxygenation  of  the  blood,  the  bills  of  mortality  would 
exhibit  melancholy  memorials  of  the  death-rate  of  the  self- 
sacrificed. 

Men  die  of  consumption.  When  sporadic,  and  not  heredi- 
tary, it  may  be  traced  to  exposures  that  brought  on  severe 
bronchial  inflammation,  respiratory  derangements,  and  their 
concomitants. 

With  wide-spreading  ribs  at  the  base  of  the  chest,  they 
resist,  successfully,  influences  which  the  female  chest  in  its 
distortions  cannot  withstand.  Therefore  their  hold  of  life  is  less 
precarious. 

Consumption  is  only  one  of  many  diseases  to  which  females 
are  liable,  that  may  be  avoided.  If,  as  physicians  assert,  de- 
rangements in  the  lungs,  engorgements  and  congestions  of  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  pelvic  viscera,  are  due  oftener  than 


326  THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

suspected  to  their  insufficient  garments,  there  is  a  remedy  with- 
out resort  to  medicine. 

Women  expose  themselves  with  thin  shoes,  and  insist  they 
are  thick  enough.  In  their  thin  silks,  and  other  delicate 
dresses,  in  going  into  the  open  air,  they  cannot  resist  the  sudden 
blasts  that  chill  them  in  passing  from  one  temperature  to 
another. 

A  few  of  the  many  may  have  the  moral  courage  to  be  com- 
fortable at  the  hazard  of  being  represented  as  eccentric  or 
opinionated,  regardless  of  what  people  may  say  of  their  oddity 
in  not  killing  themselves  in  the  wake  of  fashion. 

NOT  CLOTHED  SUITABLY. 

Small  girls  in  the  house,  the  street,  the  school,  and  in  their 
amusement,  expose  too  much  skin  surface  to  the  weather. 

Fancy  growing  boys,  wearing  summer  coats  without  sleeves 
in  winter,  their  necks  bare  and  bosoms  open  to  cold  breezes, 
with  a  postage  stamp  on  their  caputs  instead  of  a  hat,  racing 
at  foot-ball  in  kid  slippers, — and  they  would  convey  no  inapt 
idea  of  the  scanty  clothing  of  female  children  generally  in  the 
Atlantic  States. 

Bare  arms,  bare  chests,  light  tight-fitting  dresses,  and,  lastly, 
their  shoes  and  gauze  stockings,  are  their  certain  destruction. 

Girls  should  be  as  warmly  clad  and  in  as  thick  clothing  as 
their  hardy,  red-cheeked  brothers. 

Discussion  is  not  invited.  This  statement  is  presented  for 
the  consideration  of  parents.  Either  allow  girls  to  exhaust 
their  superabundant  vitality  in  unrestrained  out-door  rambles, 
barefooted  and  bonnetless,  like  vagrants,  which  would  con- 
tribute to  robustness  and  vigor ;  or  dress  them  suitably  for  pro- 
tection against  cold  blasts  that  they  meet  in  their  pastimes 
from  an  overheated  parlor  to  an  open  piazza. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  327 

Immense  numbers  of  young  girls  are  always  to  be  seen  in 
attics  barefooted,  in  clothing  that  outrages  decency,  whose 
cheeks  glow  with  health.  Their  homes  are  cheerless;  they 
lodge  in  rickety  apartments  where  fresh  air  reaches  their 
lungs  through  broken  windows  and  unfastened  doors.  Their 
food  being  plain,  coarse,  and  often  cold,  their  digestion  is  not 
deranged  by  high-seasoned  dishes,  too  strong  coffee,  or  their 
nerves  excited  beyond  a  normal  condition. 

"While  such  children  move  our  sympathy,  and  the  demoral- 
izations to  which  they  are  exposed  are  deplored,  they  have 
what  wealth  cannot  purchase, — health.  The  rich  man's  daugh- 
ters pine  with  their  feet  on  velvet  carpets,  and  they  repose  on 
down-beds  when  their  eyes  are  closed  in  slumber. 

Poor  girls  are  by  no  means  wholly  exempt  from  sickness. 
There  are  painful  sacrifices  of  human  life  in  the  abodes  of 
poverty.  Yet  decaying  families  are  recruited  from  the  ranks 
of  those  which  oftener  than  otherwise  are  regarded  with  con- 
tempt by  the  vulgar  rich. 

This  idea  does  not  embrace  the  haunts  of  vice,  but  simply 
refers  to  the  country  where  children  generally  inherit  sound 
constitutions.  Their  capital  in  the  future  business  of  life  for 
securing  respectability,  position,  and  independence,  is  made  up 
more  of  honesty  and  energy  of  character  than  money  in  bank. 

FAMILY  FAILUBES. 

In  cities,  especially  those  active  commercial  centres  where 
wealth  becomes  literally  immense,  families  deteriorate  rapidly, 
and  virtually  become  extinct  in  about  two  hundred  years, 
pampered  and  placed  above  a  necessity  for  exertion.  Such  is 
the  progress  of  decay  in  a  country  like  this,  where  no  laws  of 
primogeniture  secure  posterity  a  foothold  on  a  landed  estate. 


328  THE  WAYS   OF   WOMEN. 

If  it  is  true  that  many  noble  families  have  been  perpetuated 
in  Europe,  as  their  own  historians  assert,  by  having  plebeian 
blood  incorporated  with  their  own,  it  is  not  improbable  that  a 
farmer's  son,  or  a  chambermaid  engrafted  upon  a  withering 
stock,  will  save  many  a  name  and  many  estates  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic. 

The  ills  of  women  multiply  with  the  progress  of  social  re- 
finement. They  are  usually  traceable  to  causes  that  might 
have  been  avoided.  No  revolutions  for  their  special  benefit 
are  anticipated  which  call  for  an  abandonment  of  customs  or 
etiquette  intimately  interwoven  with  the  present  aspect  of 
civilization. 

More  courage  would  be  required  to  stem  the  current  of  popu- 
lar prejudice  among  those  who  make  up  good  society,  in  common 
parlance,  than  to  subdue  a  rebellion  against  the  government. 

Therefore  they  are  doomed  to  suffer,  in  order  to  be  con- 
sistent ;  and  they  must  die  prematurely,  because  it  would  be 
unpardonable  to  live  in  defiance  of  the  public  sentiment  in 
regard  to  what  is  deemed  to  be  extremely  respectable. 

DOSING  TOO  MUCH. 

There  are  special  infirmities  appertaining  to  women — techni- 
cally recognized  as  the  better  class — so  common,  and  so  many 
are  afflicted,  that  a  paragraph  or  two  will  be  sufficient  to  open 
their  eyes  to  impositions  practised  upon  them  by  unprincipled 
medical  specialists. 

Both  male  and  female  pseudo-medical  practitioners  are 
equally  guilty  of  fraud ;  and  the  only  possible  way  of  limiting 
their  demoralizing  manipulations,  which  generally  aggravate 
conditions,  is  to  expose  their  nefarious  doings  to  the  indignation 
of  those  whose  confidence  they  wickedly  abuse. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  329 

No  one  but  a  physician  can  estimate  the  extent  and  ravages 

JL       «/  O 

that  result  from  over-treatment  of  simple  local  difficulties,  that 
would  eventually  correct  themselves  if  left  to  the  recuperative 
efforts  of  nature. 

Young  women,  quite  as  often  as  matrons,  present  anomalous 
pelvic  complaints.  Even  a  slight  congestion  is  magnified  into 
a  bugbear,  requiring  very  special  attentions.  As  the  patient  re- 
lies on  the  report  of  the  only  one  consulted  in  her  case,  the 
opportunity  for  keeping  up  an  alarm  is  quite  within  the  control 
of  the  person  consulted. 

Since  female  practitioners  have  been  recognized  as  being  in 
an  appropriate  sphere,  a  woman  very  naturally  gives  them  a  pre- 
ference. That  is  proper  and  commendable,  but  there  are  female 
quacks. 

Because  a  seamstress  can  increase  her  income  by  announcing 
herself  a  physician,  without  the  slightest  preparation  for  the 
responsibilities  of  the  profession,  she  should  not  be  con- 
sulted before  exhibiting  some  honorable  evidence  of  her  quali- 
fications. 

Yery  respectable  physicians,  in  most  respects,  unfortunately 
for  the  progress  of  medical  intelligence,  have  their  hobbies. 

For  the  last  dozen  years  a  mania  for  caustic  applications  for 
almost  any  engorgement,  or  slight  inflammation  of  some  mucous 
membranes  accessible  to  the  practitioner,  has  raged  with  the 
intensity  of  an  epidemic.  Thousands  of  women  have  submitted 
to  a  topical  application  with  lunar  caustic,  who  were  injured 
excessively  by  it. 

Because  too  many,  improperly  cauterized,  have  kept  the 
secret  of  improper  treatment  to  themselves,  it  is  hoped  this 
exposition  of  an  imposition  practised  upon  them,  may  lead  to 
the  correction  of  an  outrageous  kind  of  practice. 

Let  no  woman  in  her  senses  submit  to  the  nitrate-of-silver 


330  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

treatment,  without  consulting  previously  the  most  commanding 
medical  authority  to  be  had. 

Two-thirds  of  the  self-styled  female  physicians,  whose  signs 
figure  conspicuously  in  basement  windows,  are  quite  as  ignorant 
as  self-reliant,  and  without  a  ray  of  pathological  knowledge. 

When  there  is  cause  for  alarm,  induced,  perhaps,  by  fatigue, 
or  from  any  other  cause,  let  nature  have  an  opportunity  at 
restoration  first. 

Nutritious  diet,  warm  baths,  a  mild  course  of  tonics,  wine, 
new  sights,  new  faces,  and  breathing  another  atmosphere,  purer 
and  less  contaminated  with  street  dust,  coal,  gas,  or  other  im- 
purities, are  superior  as  curative  agencies,  and  infinitely  more  to 
be  prized,  than  a  farrago  of  medications. 

Gross  impositions  are  practised  on  the  credulity  of  sensible 
women,  too,  by  unprincipled  speculators  in  health. 

It  is  their  misfortune  often  to  require  advice,  which  they 
should  have  from  reliable  sources,  but  it  is  extraordinary  that 
persons  of  good  understandings  are  as  often  duped  as  those  of 
no  intelligence. 

OIBB  of  the  reasons  why  medical  gentlemen  of  reputation 
hesitate  to  give  countenance  to  female  practitioners  is,  because 
there  are  such  impostors  among  them,  unscrupulous  cheats, 
deceiving  their  own  sex  whenever  opportunity  presents;  and 
honest  female  practitioners  have  to  suffer  for  their  sins. 

Moral  influences,  appropriately  directed,  should  close  the 
gates  against  medical  adventurers.  If  the  people,  particularly 
the  female  portion  of  the  community,  are  taught  as  they  should 
be,  in  the  course  of  education,  the  fundamental  principles  of 
physiology,  they  would  not  be  so  frequently  deceived  in  matters 
pertaining  to  their  own  health,  and  by  ignoramuses,  too,  whose 
ignorance  is  concealed  under  the  title  of  doctor. 

There  are  but  few  positively  sound  women  in  this  country. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  331 

Many  are  unsound  who  might  have  been  models  of  physical 
perfection. 

Causes  which  tend  to  disease,  and,  consequently,  to  an 
abridgment  of  life,  have  been  sufficiently  set  forth,  but 
with  no  hope  of  inducing  one  in  a  thousand  to  abandon 
their  idols. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
THEIK  POWERS  OF  ENDURANCE. 

What  Women  can  do — Under  Pressure  of  Misfortunes — Distinguish  Them- 
selves in  Science — Being  Misplaced — What  Offices  they  could  Discharge 
— Out-door  Employments — Capacity — Iceberg  Philanthropists — Chil- 
dren of  Indigent  Parentage — Exposures  to  Varying  Temperatures — 
Development  of  Strength. 

WITH  a  delicate  organization,  women  certainly  endure  bodily 
sufferings  with  firmness  and  heroic  resolution. 

They  can  do  anything  in  art  or  science  which  the  other  sex 
accomplish.  Certainly,  they  have  the  ability  for  mastering  lan- 
guages, playing  music,  or  carrying  on  nice  mechanical  opera- 
tions. In  sculpture,  painting,  and  many  ornamental  arts,  they 
vastly  excel.  If  they  had  fewer  muscles,  or  fewer  bones,  or 
even  more  than  a  man,  they  could  not  conduct  manipulations 
requiring  expert  fingers  and  a  well-formed  brain. 

Annals  of  war  furnish  thrilling  accounts  of  brilliant  achieve- 
ments in  arms,  in  which  young  women  braved  the  hardship  of  a 
camp,  with  a  fortitude  that  would  have  exalted  the  reputation 
of  a  veteran,  without  shrinking.  They  have  often  triumphantly 
gained  a  reputation  for  skill,  bravery,  and  patriotism. 

Their  capacity  for  horticultural  and  general  agricultural 
pursuits,  is  widely  acknowledged.  In  their  poverty  and  de- 
pendence on  manual  labor  for  bread,  their  strength  keeps  pace 
with  their  necessities.  Thus,  in  Europe,  they  till  the  soil, 
drive  teams,  saw  wood  in  the  streets,  act  as  hostlers,  and  to 
the  disgrace  of  those  communities  in  which  their  hard  destiny 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  333 

compels  them  to  do  the  work  which  belongs  to  stronger  and 
naturally  rougher  hands. 

It  dwarfs  them,  to  be  compelled  to  carry  heavy  burdens. 
Exposure  to  all  weathers  hardens  and  tans  their  complexion, 
while  alternations  of  heat,  cold,  rains,  and  winds,  bronze  their 
skin.  To  be  sweating  and  tugging  in  the  laborious  pursuits 
of  a  farm,  is  not  their  appropriate  sphere.  Still  they  do  it, 
and  adapt  themselves  to  the  hard  fortune  imposed  upon  them, 
without  complaining  more  than  the  sisterhood  whose  destiny 
places  them  beyond  the  necessity  of  being  industrious. 

They  bear  up  under  misfortune,  indeed,  under  all  hard- 
ships, more  cheerfully  than  men,  without  perilling  their  health 
or  morals.  Their  instincts  are  always  in  the  right  direction. 

A  mother  in  the  extreme  wretchedness  of  some  forms  of 
poverty,  ignorant,  and  dependent,  manifests  as  much  maternal 
solicitude,  affection,  and  unconquerable  love  for  her  children, 
as  the  wife  of  a  peer.  She  submits  with  fortitude  to  surgical 
operations,  and  endures  protracted  pains  more  heroically  than 
men,  whose  physical  powers  of  resistance,  apparently,  are  far 
superior. 

A  citation  from  historical  records  to  establish  this  proposi- 
tion would  be  needless,  since  it  has  become  a  proverb  that  a 
woman  is  acknowledged  to  bear  away  the  palm. 

When  circumstances  require,  women  do  as  well  as  men  as 
teachers,  artists,  or  bookkeepers ;  and  they  are  constitutionally 
more  honest  than  those  claiming  to  be  lords  over  them. 
Having  the  same  number  of  nerves,  bones,  and  blood-vessels, 
why  should  they  not  do  whatever  men  do  in  those  economies 
which  require  brains  and  hands  ? 

If  they  fall  below  the  sterner  sex  in  any  sphere  of  action, 
it  is  because  their  education  has  been  less  complete.  Give 
them  equal  advantages. 


334:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.   . 

Immense  numbers  of  men  and  women  are  unfortunately 
misplaced.  Society,  consequently,  is  a  loser  by  not  having 
them  in  positions  where  each  would  have  contributed  advan- 
tageously for  the  good  of  all. 

Women  quite  frequently  find  themselves  mismated  as  well 
as  misplaced.  It  is  a  mistake  they  often  make,  in  supposing 
that  pearls  and  diamonds  are  worth  more  than  intelligence. 
Jewels  have  no  weight  in  an  intellectual  balance. 

"  When  unadorned,  adorned  the  most,"  is  a  trite  expression, 
but  it  conveys  a  truth  applicable  to  women  of  culture.  They 
have  an  influence  wherever  they  move,  because  there  is  a  force 
in  their  deportment,  and  especially  in  their  words,  when  pro- 
perly directed,  commanding  both  respect  and  admiration. 

An  unaccountable  opposition  is  manifested  against  granting 
educational  privileges  to  women. 

There  are  unsuccessful  merchants  who  would  have  been 
excellent  farmers,  and  many  farmers  of  the  most  thriftless 
order,  who  would  have  made  enterprizing  traders.  The  pulpit 
is  burdened  with  stupid  clergymen,  whose  voices  are  an  anodyne, 
and  their  reasoning  solid  opium.  Their  congregations  sleep  as 
quietly  under  their  clerical  administration  of  the  parish,  as  if 
they  had  taken  a  dose  of  chloroform  at  the  commencement  of 
the  services. 

Now,  such  somnambulant  church-operators  might  have 
succeeded  far  better  in  pursuits  requiring  muscle  instead  of 
brain.  Lawyers,  too,  profoundly  ignorant  of  law,  and  physicians 
who  literally  know  nothing  of  the  profession  they  are  permitted 
to  practise,  are  familiar  examples  of  social  displacement. 

One  of  the  objections  to  giving  women  clerkships,  or  putting 
them  in  positions  of  accountants,  actuaries,  bookkeepers,  bank- 
tellers,  ticket-takers  at  railroad  offices,  and  even  conductors,  and 
many  other  pursuits,  which  they  might  follow  quite  as  accept- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 


335 


ably  as  such  services  are  performed  bj  rough,  coarse,  unmanner- 
ed  vulgarians,  loathed  by  those  obliged  to  come  in  contact  with 
them, — is  from  a  fear  they  might  become  demoralized  by  such 
general  intercourse  with  the  outside  world.  Theoretically,  but 
without  any  valid  reason,  they  should  be  occupants  of  the  house 
at  all  times,  and  the  instruments  with  which  they  should  become 
familiarized,  are  broomsticks,  needles,  and  teapots. 

It  is  discreditable  to  men,  who  have  so  little  confidence  in 
the  moral  perfections  of  their  mothers  and  sisters  as  to  exclude 
them  from  situations  which  would  not  only  be  eminently  bene- 
ficial to  themselves,  but  also  to  each  and  every  community  in 
which  their  fitness  and  capacity  for  such  pursuits  have  been 
appreciated  and  encouraged. 


OBJECTIONS  UKGED. 

It  has  been  urged  that  women  could  not  be  relied  upon  in 
some  very  common  offices  in  which  men  are  in  charge,  on  ac- 
count of  certain  constitutional  peculiarities,  which  forbid  females 
from  exposing  themselves  to  varying  temperatures,  wetting  their 
feet,  etc.,  which  would  prove  ruinous  to  their  health. 

Such  apprehensions  are  unfounded.  It  is  true,  that  those 
reared  so  tenderly  as  to  make  them  unnaturally  feeble,  and 
therefore  more  susceptible,  would  not  have  constitutions  for 
some  industries  ;  but  a  woman  who  has  been  allowed  through 
her  childhood  to  breathe  in  open  air,  to  exercise  her  muscles 
out-doors,  can  resist  any  and  all  influences  from  atmospheric  ex- 
posure, that  a  male  organization  resists.  Early  training,  and 
not  a  congenital  predisposition,  fits  or  unfits  either  for  activity 
and  usefulness,  in-door  or  out. 

In  all  discussions  on  the  subject  of  female  suffrage,  a  sort  of 
epidemic  that  breaks  out  occasionally,  to  the  immense  alarm  of 


336  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

politicians — especially  those  who  dread  the  elevation  of  women, 
well  knowing  their  intelligence  and  superior  moral  qualifica- 
tions would  be  a  death-blow  to  their  own  aspirations — it  is  as- 
sumed that  they  are  physically  unfitted  for  pursuits  in  which 
men  engage. 

Mental  capacity  is  ingeniously  left  out  of  the  account  as 
much  as  possible  ;  and  those  very  wise  doctors  who,  in  fear  of 
having  well-informed  women  employed  to  nurse  sickly  or  de- 
moralized institutions,  are  continually  harping  on  their  inability, 
are  careful  to  say  nothing  about  their  educational  fitness  to 
transact  affairs  far  more  successfully  than  thousands  of  party 
numskulls,  whose  only  qualification  for  positions  they  disgrace 
by  ignorance,  is  devotion  to  leaders  bolder  and  more  unscrupu- 
lous than  themselves. 


WHERE  THEY  WOULD  SUCCEED. 

In  courts  of  law  ;  on  grand  or  traverse  juries  ;  as  coroners, 
sheriffs,  and  similar  offices,  which  require  tact,  good  manners,  firm- 
ness, and  an  accurate  knowledge  of  legal  forms,  women  could 
aquit  themselves  far  more  acceptably  than  such  coarse,  profane, 
offensive  occupants  as  sometimes  hold  those  places. 

In  March,  1870,  an  experiment  was  tried  in  the  Territory 
of  Wyoming,  for  the  first  time  since  the  formation  of  a  civil 
government  in  America,  of  placing  women  on  a  jury. 

A  wretch,  by  the  name  of  Cowie,  was  on  trial  for  murder. 
The  panel  had  upon  it  six  females  and  six  males.  After  a  pro- 
tracted deliberation  of  four  days  and  nights,  a  verdict  of  man- 
slaughter was  rendered. 

Of  course,  the  ladies  were  exceedingly  fatigued,  but  their 
resolution,  and  the  dignity  and  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  won 
for  them  the  admiration  of  the  whole  country. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  337 

Hardly,  however,  had  the  eclat  of  their  services  been 
heralded  over  the  country,  than  it  was  bruited  about  that  their 
husbands  were  dissatisfied  with  such  a  protracted  absence  of 
their  wives  from  domestic  duties.  Worse  still,  a  busy  press 
was  active  in  propagating  a  story  that  another  source  of  dis- 
satisfaction grew  out  of  having  their  beloved  helpmates  shut  up 
four  days  and  nights  with  strange  men,  sturdy  yeomen,  of  whom 
they  knew  neither  good  nor  evil. 

That  must  have  been  an  attempt  at  merriment,  or  the  out- 
growth of  a  mischievous  disposition  to  destroy  the  influence 
which  women  were  acquiring  in  their  praiseworthy  efforts  in  a 
new  and  important  sphere  of  action. 


HARDY  DISCIPLINE. 

Children  born  to  apparent  affluence,  tenderly  managed,  by 
unexpected  family  reverses  have  been  often  thrown  upon  the 
cold  charity  of  the  world  to  grapple  with  poverty  in  its  severest 
forms.  Iceberg  philanthropists  seldom  thaw  at  the  sight 
of  wretchedness  that  can  best  be  warmed  by  money. 

In  transitions  from  one  social  extreme  to  another,  the  body 
suffers  from  no  shocks  that  essentially  impairs  it,  while  a  hope 
is  entertained  of  ultimately  rising  above  poverty  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  influence  and  comforts.  Some  fall  by  the  way,  whose 
feeble  organization  is  unequal  to  the  depressing  wretchedness 
of  hope  deferred.  But  how  many  live  through  painful  scenes 
of  want  and  mortification  to  reach  old  age  in  a  better  aspect 
than  when  they  first  began  to  battle  with  tribulations ! 

Children  of  indigent  parentage  throng  the  streets  of  every 
city,  barefooted,  hatless,  bonnetless,  thinly  clad,  and  oppressed  by 
hunger,  braving  storms,  whose  ruddy  cheeks  bear  witness  to 
the  invigorating  influence  of  fresh  air. 


338  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Female  children  from  such  sources  are  factory  operatives. 
They  are  domestics,  and  in  whatever  position  they  may  occupy 
at  service,  are  not  only  expected,  but  are  ordered  to  do  that 
which  as  often  as  otherwise  obliges  them  to  be  standing  in 
water — handling  wet  clothes,  cold  and  chilling  to  their  warm 
blood ;  and  yet  they  sustain  a  higher  standard  of  health  than 
the  pampered  offspring  of  their  masters  and  mistresses,  imag- 
ined to  have  been  born  to  a  better  inheritance. 

It  is  no  more  dangerous  to  have  one's  feet  in  cold  water  than 
to  have  their  hands  in  it.  There  is  nothing  in  the  anatomy  of 
a  woman's  body  that  indicates  a  greater  susceptibility  in  her 
feet  than  in  her  lingers. 

The  whole  body,  as  individual  limbs,  or  the  face,  maybe 
accustomed  to  endurances  that  would  be  detrimental  to  a  novice 
in  such  kinds  of  exposure.  A  sudden  plunge  into  a  cold  bath 
reduces  vital  temperature.  In  coming  out,  it  returns  with 
accelerated  force.  But  the  after-glow,  so  much  coveted  by 
ladies,  and  of  which  they  speak  with  enthusiasm,  as  delightful 
in  the  transition  from  a  bath  to  a  warm  room,  is  a  dearly  pur- 
chased pleasure  by  some  hydropathic  advocates. 

That  after-glow  draws  largely  upon  the  vitality  of  those  of 
extremely  delicate  organization.  It  takes  so  much  from  the 
fountain,  that  it  finally  ceases  to  rise  to  its  normal  level.  A  lady 
may  dissipate  in  a  bath,  to  her  injury,  quite  as  readily  as  with 
chloroform  or  opium.  Their  effects,  however,  are  widely  differ- 
ent, though  both  lead  to  the  gates  of  death.  Excess  in  any- 
thing enervates.  Regularity,  even  in  the  violation  of  organic 
laws,  does  not  produce  derangements  immediately. 

Sudden  cold  douches  are  as  unbearable  as  electric  shocks ; 
still,  by  gradually  practising,  as,  for  example,  keeping  the  hands 
or  feet  a  long  while  in  intensely  cold  water,  no  injury  ensues. 

Pearl  divers  descend  thirty  and  forty  feet,  and  walk  about 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  339 

deliberately  on  the  bottom.  Suspending  respiration  thus  is  an 
education  of  the  lungs  to  meet  the  contingency  of  their  pro- 
fession. Washer-women  in  Paris  paddle  in  the  Seine  with  the 
freedom  of  ducks — always  cold  and  wet ;  yet  they  live  to  the 
ordinary  age  of  those  who  have  had  no  experience  in  aquatics. 

The  muscle  of  men  becomes  stronger  and  more  massive 
than  in  women,  because  they  are  more  exercised  in  all  forms  of 
activity.  Just  as  the  twig  is  bent,  so  is  the  tree  inclined. 

As  soon  as  muscles  are  required  to  perform  an  increased 
amount  of  service  in  a  particular  routine  of  action,  an  extra 
volume  of  blood  circulates  in  them,  which  is  equivalent  to  giv- 
ing them  more  food  than  when  their  labors  were  less. 

Thus,  a  blacksmith's  hammer-arm  is  larger  than  the  other, 
because  the  weight  to  be  habitually  moved  in  forging  at  his 
anvil  requires  increased  muscular  force.  It  is,  therefore,  more 
copiously  nourished. 

The  stonecutter's  arm  becomes  larger  that  wields  a  mallet, 
than  its  mate  directing  the  chisel.  Ballet-dancers,  rope-per- 
formers, circus-riders,  and  professional  pedestrians,  have  won- 
derfully fine  lower  extremities,  while  their  arms  appear  dispro- 
portionably  small,  in  consequence  of  not  having  an  increased 
circulation  directed  to  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  porters,  or  those  who  are  constantly 
handling,  moving,  and  lifting  heavy  boxes,  barrels,  etc.,  or  car- 
rying burdens  on  their  backs  or  shoulders,  have  a  prodigious 
massiveness  of  the  pectoral  muscles  about  the  upper  part  of  the 
chest  and  lumbar  region. 

It  is  one  of  the  strange  sights  at  the  port  of  Havana  to 
watch  the  play  of  muscles  of  nude  burden-carriers  in  discharg- 
ing vessels,  which  stand  out  in  living  prominence. 

Stevedores,  in  Sicily,  walk  up  a  plank  with  a  bale  of  rags 
on  their  brawny  shoulders,  weighing,  upon  an  average,  four 


340  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

hundred  pounds.     They  move  off  deliberately,  as  though,  not 
particularly  embarrassed. 

"We  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  seeing  a  Turkish  porter, 
passing  through  a  street  in  Smyrna,  with  a  barrel  of  New- 
England  rum  slung  to  his  arched  back. 

Processes  which  develop  strength  in  men,  will  also  develop 
strength  in  women.  Arab  girls,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and 
indeed  all  over  Syria,  assist  one  another  in  raising  heavy  jars  of 
water  to  their  head,  which  they  carry  off  to  distant  villages 
with  apparent  ease,  rarely  touching  the  vessel  with  their  hands, 
so  admirably  are  they  poised. 

Files  of  those  dark-eyed,  supple  nymphs,  in  social  chat, 
cheerfully  wend  their  way  for  one  or  two  miles,  without  the 
least  apparent  fatigue.  Such  habitual  exercise  of  all  their 
muscles  brings  out  the  finest  imaginable  proportions  of  the 
body.  Every  fibre  is  urged  to  a  full  state  of  tension. 

Those  bronzed  females,  whose  symmetrical  forms  cannot  be 
excelled  in  any  country,  know  nothing  of  numerous  complaints 
which  are  the  burden  of  our  civilization.  They  have  neither 
distorted  spines,  drooping  shoulders,  or  contracted  waists. 
Maternity  is  rarely  attended  with  anxiety.  Apprehending  no 
danger,  they  are  never  harassed  by  nervous  anticipations,  or 
depressed  with  thoughts  of  danger. 

Were  orthopedic  surgeons,  whose  specialty  is  to  warp  dis- 
torted bones  into  position,  to  treat  their  patients  to  sustaining 
weights  on  their  heads,  and  exercise  with  them,  their  success 
would  be  far  more  satisfactory.  Put  the  muscles  into  action, 
properly  directed,  and  they  will  certainly  adjust  the  distorted 
parts,  by  contracting  forcibly  till  the  deviating  bone  is  gradually 
restored  to  its  natural  relations. 


THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN.  341 

WHO  ARE  DISTORTED? 

Young  ladies  brought  up  in  luxurious  indolence  are  the 
principal  sufferers  from  incurvations  of  the  spine.  Family  opu- 
lence is  not  uafrequently  the  destruction  of  heirs  to  an  estate. 
Rich  girls  are  made  puny,  feeble,  and  lifeless  by  their  dresses, 
table  luxuries,  gas-lights  when  they  ought  to  be  in  bed,  by  opera 
excitements,  piano  drillings,  unventilated  apartments,  and 
brain-burning  novels ! 

When  very  young,  they  should  be  permitted  to  range  in  loose 
garments,  and  be  as  free  as  the  poor  man's  daughters.  That  is 
the  way  to  form,  a  good  constitution.  If,  however,  the  misfor- 
tune of  a  spinal  curvature  overtakes  them,  let  them  promenade 
regularly  with  as  much  of  a  weight  on  the  head  as  they  can 
carry.  Do  it  in  the  garden  or  open  field,  rather  than  in  a  draw- 
ing-room. Being  lashed  down  to  an  inclined  plane  is  an  ab- 
surdity, and  deserves  professional  condemnation.  Liberate 
their  oppressed  ribs ;  give  them  coarse  food,  instead  of  dry 
toast  and  tea.  Imitate  the  vigorous  girls  of  Egypt.  Theories 
disappear  before  facts  in  orthopedic  surgery  : 

"  Natura  duce  was  the  text 
Of  ancient  Hippocrates, 
But  we  shall  lead  old  Nature  next, 
The  force  of  art  so  great  is." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
FOKCE. 


Mental  Differences  —  Genius  not  to  be  Purchased—  Soul  —  Molecules  of 
Matter  Perpetually  Re-arranged  —  Duplication  of  Organs  —  Brains  Look 
Alike  —  A  Divine  Mystery  —  Male  and  Female  Brains  —  No  Apparent 
Anatomical  Difference. 

ISTo  one  pretends  to  question  the  universal  opinion  that  in- 
tellection is  manifested  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
brain,  a  poorly  understood  organ. 

Brain  force,  that  exercise  of  the  will  which  places  humanity 
at  the  head,  and  gives  man  control  over  animals,  and,  in  fact, 
over  the  whole  world,  perplexes  philosophers  as  much  now  as  in 
the  earliest  periods  of  philosophical  inquiry. 

Science  affords  but  little  light  for  conducting  investigations 
which  have  in  view  an  easy  explanation  of  cerebral  functions. 
That  positive  something  which  is  a  power,  exercised  by  indi- 
viduals in  producing  great,  or,  indeed,  any  results,  is  potent, 
and  almost  irresistible  in  its  fullest  development. 

Some  are  superior  to  others,  because  they  originate  thoughts. 
Mechanical  inventors,  those  having  the  faculty  of  combining 
complicated  motions,  resulting  in  the  production  of  labor-saving 
machines,  or  who  conceive  unique  designs,  and  execute  splendid 
works  in  art,  must  have  brains  intrinsically  different  from  those 
who  are  totally  incapable  of  exhibiting  new  and  striking  forms 
of  talent. 

Poets,  writers  of  exciting  fiction  —  admitted  to  possess  active 
imaginations  —  create  scenes  and  circumstances,  which  are  trans- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  343 

f  erred  to  paper,  as  the  painter  does  an  ideal  image  to  canvas,  to 
delight  those  who  have  no  similar  inspirations.  Some,  then, 
have  a  capacity  for  enjoying  the  mental  productions  of  others. 
They  have,  too,  a  skill  in  searching  out  beauties,  and  of  detect- 
ing faults,  without  a  faculty  of  originating. 

Yet,  in  a  dissection  of  the  brain,  the  most  accomplished 
anatomist  cannot  detect  the  slightest  difference  in  structure. 
One  may  exceed  the  other  slightly,  perhaps,  in  weight.  But 
many  a  genius  has  had  a  small  head,  and  thousands  of  distin- 
guished fools  had  a  brain  surprisingly  large. 

Misers  see  phantom  dollars  upon  the  same  philosophical 
principle  that  an  architect  sees  in  his  mind's  eye  the  structure 
he  proposes  to  erect.  Both  contemplate  an  intangible  repre- 
sentation, which  is  copied  and  made  real. 

Whether  education  changes  the  arrangement  of  cerebral 
fibres,  requires  further  investigation.  It  develops  and  directs 
innate  powers  which  otherwise  might  have  remained  partially 
dormant. 

A  knowledge  of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic,  or  utter 
ignorance  of  those  useful  branches,  is  no  evidence  of  an  in- 
ability to  invent  or  make  discoveries  of  importance  to  man- 
kind. 

GENIUS. 

Genius  can  neither  be  bought,  sold,  nor  transferred.  It 
appertains  to  individuals.  Hence  they  who  possess  it  in  an 
eminent  degree,  when  directed  for  the  advancement  of  the 
common  good,  are  regarded  as  public  benefactors.  When  extra- 
ordinary intellectual  endowments  are  wasted  in  frivolous  pur- 
suits, or  the  envied  possessor  of  rare  cerebral  gifts  fritters  away 
opportunities  for  enlarging  his  own  orbit  and  advancing  the 
interests  of  the  community,  society  says  he  lived  to  no  pur- 


3M  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

pose,  and  died  without  leaving  a  brilliant  memorial  of  his 
existence. 

A  perfectly  developed  mind  depends  on  a  perfectly  devel- 
oped condition  of  the  apparatus  by  which  it  is  manifested. 

A  body  may  be  mutilated  to  an  extraordinary  degree  without 
at  all  limiting  the  range  of  intellect.  A  member  of  the  British 
parliament  was  born  without  arms  or  legs,  yet  he  is  a  man  of 
clear  perceptions  and  unclouded  judgment. 

When  all  distinguishing  characteristics  of  a  well-balanced 
intellect  are  active  and  even  brilliant,  every  limb  may  be  am- 
putated, both  ears  removed,  both  eyes  blinded,  the  teeth 
extracted,  the  tongue  severed,  and  many  more  terrible  mutila- 
tions inflicted  without  essentially  impairing  intellection,  which 
remains  as  complete  before. 

THE  SOUL. 

When  those  material  instrumentalities  by  which  mind  is 
manifested  are  injured  or  destroyed,  then  there  can  be  no 
conscious  volitions. 

It  is  argued  that  the  soul  is  something  quite  independent 
and  distinct  from  the  machinery  of  organic  life,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  which  its  essential  attributes  are  manifested. 

If  food  is  withheld  too  long,  a  debility  of  the  body  follows 
and  the  mind  falters.  If  the  tissues  are  not  supplied  with 
materials  for  repairing  a  waste  constantly  going  on  in  the 
system,  organs  cease  to  operate.  Death  ensues,  and  the  soul 
departs. 

Our  bodies  are  all  the  time  receiving  new  materials,  and 
throwing  off  effete  substance  that  has  imparted  its  vitality. 
Let  this  operation  be  suspended  even  but  for  a  very  brief 
period,  and  derangements  and  death  would  be  inevitable. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEX.  345 

Particles  received  yesterday  are  ready  to  be  removed  to- 
day, while  new  ones,  just  elaborated  from  food,  take  their 
places.  Thus  life  is  mechanically  sustained. 

It  is,  therefore,  morally  certain  that  mind  is  an  independent, 
intangible  something,  which  exhibits  itself  through  vitalized 
matter.  From  whence  it  came,  or  where  it  goes,  belongs  to 
the  province  of  revealed  religion  to  elucidate. 

DUPLICATION. 

Animals  are  organized  beings,  varying  in  their  forms,  both 
externally  and  internally,  according  to  a  specific  service  they 
are  to  perform  in  the  economy  of  nature.  As  far  as  naturalists 
have  carried  their  investigations,  each  and  every  one,  including 
man,  are  duplicated  in  their  bones,  muscles,  members,  and 
special  nerves  of  sense. 

Two  halves,  rarely  varying  much  in  form,  number,  or 
weight,  are  united  to  make  one  symmetrical  whole. 

Thus  there  are  two  brains  united,  two  eyes,  two  ears,  two 
olfactory  cavities,  with  two  sets  of  nerves  alike  on  the  two 
sides,  two  kidneys,  two  arms,  two  feet,  and,  in  the  foetal  state, 
each  jaw  was  in  two  pieces. 

An  obvious  advantage  in  thus  duplicating  so  many  parts, 
is  to  increase  and  concentrate  force,  whether  vital  or  mechan- 
ical. Even  the  heart  is  double.  One  heart  throws  blood  into 
the  lungs,  while  the  other  propels  it  through  the  body. 
By  welding  them  together,  less  room  was  required,  and 
compactness  in  packing  is  one  of  the  wonders  disclosed  by 
dissection. 

In  respect  to  the  brain,  nerves,  and  muscles,  when  one  set 
are  out  of  order,  or  they  can  no  longer  perform  their  part  in 
the  circle  of  vital  movements,  thought,  volitions,  and  muscular 


34:6  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

efforts  are  solely  carried  on  by  the  other  half,  which  is  unim- 
paired. 

We  hear  with  one  ear,  see  with  one  eye,  chew  on  one  side, 
taste  with  half  a  tongue,  secrete  with  one  kidney,  locomote 
on  one  leg,  and  do  very  well  with  one  arm ;  and  in  a  paralysis 
of  half  the  body,  drag  it  about  for  years,  while  all  the  powers 
of  life  are  carried  on  and  regulated  by  the  sound  side. 

Worms  are  an  aggregation  of  rings  or  sections,  each  of 
which  is  almost  a  distinct  individual,  having  its  own  breathing 
orifice,  its  own  ganglions,  or  nervous  centres,  equivalent  to  a 
brain,  and  its  own  independent  locomotive  apparatus. 

Some  of  the  annelides  may  be  cut  into  pieces,  and  each  one 
will  become  a  distinct,  complete,  independent  being. 

One  set  of  digestive  apparatus  answers  for  a  double  set  of 
organs  in  all  animals,  as  one  boiler  is  sufficient  for  a  double 
engine  in  steam-vessels. 

DISTINCTION  WITHOUT  A  DIFFERENCE. 

To  all  appearance,  human  brains  are  alike  in  structure. 
One  may  be  larger  than  another,  but  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
discriminate  a  male  from  a  female  brain,  otherwise  than  upon 
the  received  opinion  that  the  latter  is  smallest. 

On  the  dissecting-table,  the  most  expert  anatomist  could 
not  designate  the  brain  of  a  statesman  from  that  of  a  scavenger. 
They  are  essentially  alike,  and  yet  they  differ  in  a  manner, 
while  living,  which  no  one  has  yet  been  able  to  explain. 

If  we  were  not  alike  in  regard  to  the  number  and  arrange- 
ments of  our  organs,  we  could  neither  think  nor  act  alike. 
Anatomists,  however,  discover  no  difference  in  the  structure 
or  disposition  of  the  brain,  nerve,  or  muscles.  Therefore,  a 
great  mystery  remains  unsolved,  notwithstanding  all  that  has 
been  taught  in  elucidation  of  the  laws  of  life. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  347 

PASSIVE  ORGANS. 

With  eyes,  an  invisible  conscious  entity  within  the  brain 
sees  what  is  transpiring  without.  It  hears  with  the  ears,  feels 
through  the  nerves,  tastes  with  the  tongue,  and  contracts  muscles 
by  a  force  acting  from  within.  An  eye  cannot  see,  or  an  ear 
hear.  They  are  completely  passive,  simply  being  instruments 
constructed  for  conducting  to  the  soul's  residence  information 
that  could  not  in  any  other  manner  or  way  be  communicated. 

Thinkers  who  exercise  their  muscles,  in-door  and  out, 
discreetly,  have  a  longer  life  than  those  who  are  careless  in 
their  habits,  and  sluggish  in  their  movements. 

More  women  are  moved  by  the  brain-force  of  others,  than 
among  an  equal  number  of  men ;  but  there  are  female  writers 
whose  mental  capacity  has  not  been  equalled  by  the  other  sex  : 
in  any  branch  of  literature. 

Brain-force  is  a  Divine  mystery.  Its  influence  is  felt,  but 
that  is  all  we  know  about  it.  There  is  no  art  or  device  that 
did  not  originate  in  a  brain.  There,  too,  conceptions,  complex 
and  intricate,  may  be  kept  safely  for  future  use,  or  remain 
quiescent  till  the  golden  bowl  is  broken  at  the  fountain. 

Whatever  is  fabricated  by  human  hands,  must  first  have 
existed  in  the  brain — so  legibly  photographed  there,  the  mind 
examined  the  pattern  as  the  work  of  imitating  proceeded  till 
completed. 

There  being  no  apparent  difference  in  the  brains  of  the 
sexes,  and  experience  favoring  the  opinion  there  is  none,  why 
cannot  women  do  all  that  men  accomplish  of  value  to  society  ? 
They  are  entitled  in  equity  to  all  rights  and  privileges  in  the 
exercise  of  the  talents  God  has  given  them,  and  no  opportunity 
should  be  omitted,  on  their  part,  for  exercising  that  brain-force 
in  all  lawful  enterprises  and  pursuits. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

OVER-WORKING  THE   BRAIN". 

Must  be  Exercised  to  be  kept  in  Order — Must  nave  Periods  of  Rest — Sleep— 
A  Sound  Mind — Predisposing  Cause  of  Madness — Political  Friction — 
Oriental  Calmness — Sudden  Death — Avarice. 

THERE  is  a  popular  notion  that  the  brain  may  be  over-taxed ; 
and  it  is  well  founded.  Those  who  dwell  wholly  and  con- 
tinually on  one  idea, — a  perpetual  hobby, — injure  the  organ  by 
compelling  one  set  of  fibres,  tubes,  or  molecules,  we  know  not 
which,  to  be  too  much  and  too  long  exercised  without  relax- 
ation. 

Relaxation  is  as  necessary  for  the  brain  as  for  the  muscles. 
Alternations  of  mental  action  and  reasonable  repose  are  neces- 
sary in  the  constitution  of  humanity. 

Those  who  have  exercised  the  brain  pleasurably,  through  a 
long  life  of  industry,  have  had  clearer  perceptions,  and  a  higher 
order  of  intelligence,  than  those  whose  mental  action  is  irre- 
gular: becoming  suddenly  excited,  and  then  relaxing  into 
thoughtless  indolence,  is  particularly  injurious. 

The  more  the  brain  is  used  without  abuse,  the  more  com- 
plete its  functions.  It  may  be  injured  by  concentrating  cerebral 
force  too  long,  or  confining  the  mind  to  the  consideration  of 
one  problem,  or  series  of  cogitations,  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
thoughts,  or  the  intrusion  of  impressions  that  might  divert  the 
mind  from  the  order  in  which  the  individual  is  resolved  to  con- 
centrate his  thoughts. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  34-9 

Hence  leaders  of  isms,  furious  reformers,  radical  agitators, 
inventors,  who  dwell  long  and  earnestly  on  certain  mechanical 
contrivances,  as  the  quadrature  of  the  circle ;  mad  poets,  those 
creatures  of  imagination,  who  feel  themselves  unappreciated, 
and,  therefore,  neglected, — become  eccentric,  and  in  extreme 
cases  insane,  because  the  brain  has  had  no  rest. 

ALTERNATIONS  OE  LABOR  AND  REST. 

Intervals  of  relaxation  of  one  set  or  parts  of  the  thinking 
apparatus  is  necessary,  while  others  are  operating.  The  same 
law  governs  the  organs  of  digestion.  After  the  stomach  has 
prepared  the  food  received,  it  passes  onward  to  the  alimentary 
canal.  In  the  meanwhile,  it  reposes  till  the  next  meal  is 
received,  thus  recuperating  in  the  intervals.  Without  such 
opportunities  for  rest,  derangements  would  inevitably  occur.  In 
fact,  they  do  in  those  who  are  continually  violating  the  laws  of 
health,  by  imposing  too  much  service  on  that  badly-treated 
viscus.  Dyspepsia,  gastric  pains,  and  chronic  inflammations  are 
penalties  for  gorging  the  stomach  too  much,  too  often,  and 
with  materials  that  bring  on  direct  disease,  in  an  effort  to  digest 
what  is  indigestible.  That  is  forced  labor. 

An  eye  must  have  repose,  the  heart  is  perfectly  at  rest  an 
instant  between  its  pulsations,  and  beats  on,  in  some  bosoms, 
one  hundred  years,  unimpaired. 

Birds  sleep  at  night ;  reptiles  retire  to  their  holes ;  fishes 
balance  themselves  on  their  pectoral  fins  in  the  darkness  01 
aquatic  night  in  slumber.  It  is  thus,  while  all  is  quiet,  and 
each  and  every  animal  puts  itself  in  a  position  most  favorable 
for  rest,  that  nervous  force  re-accumulates  for  meeting  demands 
that  may  be  made  upon  the  system  the  coming  day. 

The  brain  must  sleep,  and,  in  hours  of  total  unconscious- 


350  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

ness,  if  there  are  no  irregularities  in  the  circulation  or  digestion, 
regathers  that  which  invigorates  it  for  the  waking  hour. 

Imperfect  nutrition  of  the  brain  is  quite  as  much  the  cause 
of  irregular  action  as  being  over-taxed  with  one  burden,  or  a 
ceaseless  devotion  to  one  engrossing  theme. 

If  the  liver  is  diseased,  the  spleen  disordered,  the  pancreas, 
scirrhus,  or  the  stomach  inadequate  to  the  performance  of  its 
ordinary  duties,  the  brain  soon  becomes  impoverished.  It  is 
impossible  to  carry  on  its  appropriate  functions  on  a  short 
allowance. 

A  SOUND  MIND. 

A  sound  mind  is  intimately  associated  with  good  health,  and 
that  is  maintained  by  nutritious  food  and  perfect  digestion. 

Lunatic  asylums  furnish  painful  examples  of  impaired  brains, 
but  those  institutions  have  not  yet  had  the  independence  to 
publish  such  details  as  would  satisfactorily  explain  many  true 
causes  of  insanity  in  a  large  proportion  of  their  inmates. 

It  is,  perhaps,  an  exercise  of  philanthropic  discretion  not  to 
report  what  might  mortify,  pain,  or  horrify. 

A  predisposing  cause  of  moodiness,  nervous  excitability, 
melancholy,  and  various  phases  of  insanity,  may  be  traced  almost 
invariably  to  a  violation  of  some  law  of  life. 

An  apology  may  be  found  for  an  unfortunate  sufferer,  by 
pleading  his  ignorance ;  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  transgression. 
It  is  charitable  to  presume  hard  study  has  destroyed  many 
promising  intellects,  but  medical  authorities  teach  us  that  the 
mind  is  oftener  overthrown  by  the  practice  of  vices  than  by  an 
influx  of  knowledge. 

Rather  than  admit  the  destruction  of  reason  by  intense 
literary  application,  writers  are  beginning  to  intimate  that  abuses 
self-imposed  demand  a  more  strict  professional  scrutiny. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  351 

It  might  be  thought  premature,  or  at  least  inexpedient  to 
announce  authoratively  in  annual  reports,  that  restraints  actually 
bring  on  madness  in  some  of  its  saddest  forms. 

Our  civilization  imposes  barriers  against  the  indulgence  of 
many  natural  wants.  A  reflex  action  deranges  the  brain. 

When  Mahometans  are  insane,  it  is  usually  caused  by  in- 
juries of  the  skull,  frights,  sudden  surprisals,  deprivation  of 
cherished  rights,  opium,  hasheesh,  smoking,  etc.,  but  rarely,  if 
ever,  from  moral  causes.  Moslem  fanatics,  like  those  in  Chris- 
tian countries,  become  eccentric  and  insane  too.  Blighted 
hopes,  disappointments  in  love,  or  religious  fervor,  seldom  lead 
to  alienations  of  mind  in  Orientals. 

They  have  among  them  fanatical  individuals,  whose  tem- 
peraments are  like  those  of  the  same  nervous  type  in  all  coun- 
tries. When  thwarted  in  favorite  schemes  for  revolutionizing 
a  neighborhood  or  a  state,  disappointment  brings  on  analagous 
forms  of  insanity. 

Political  rebuffs,  unsuccessful  enterprises,  religious  theories 
which  others  oppose,  self-imposed  missions  ostensibly  for  the 
public  good,  which  were  fully  intended  to  be  particularly  bene- 
ficial to  themselves,  are  avenues  to  lunacy.  Each  and  all  of 
them  are  proper  examples  of  over-working  the  brain. 

Still,  over-working  that  organ  is  not  quite  as  common  as 
may  have  been  supposed.  A  vindictive  determination  to  do 
what  is  not  agreeable  to  others,  meets  with  opposition  that  not 
unfrequently  reacts  upon  an  excited  brain  beyond  what  it  can 
bear.  That,  however,  is  not  to  be  understood  as  over-working 
it.  Does  a  calm,  considerate  exercise  of  acquiring,  comparing, 
and  analyzing  tend  to  the  brain's  injury  ?  No. 

Have  many  young  men  or  misses  of  sixteen  ruined  their 
intellect  by  study  ? 

That  their  minds  have  given  way  in  early  youth  is  undeni- 


352  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

able ;  but  not  by  schooling  the  brain  in  the  ordinary  manner 
of  being  educated.  One-idea  people  are  numerous,  and  in  this 
country  among  women,  particularly.  When  necessity  compels 
them  to  laborious  devotion  to  one  unvarying  pursuit,  as  stitch- 
ing with  a  needle,  running  a  sewing  machine,  braiding  straw, 
reading  proof-sheets,  or  similar  exhausting  industries,  the  ner- 
vous system  is  often  seriously  prostrated.  Indeed,  the  con- 
templation of  one  thing  all  the  while,  as  more  prominent  than 
all  others,  without  reasonable  relaxation,  is  excessively  over- 
working the  brain. 

EXPLOSION  OF  LIFE. 

Commmercial  men  in  communities  where  property  is  the 
only  passport  to  position,  over-work  the  brain  more  rapidly 
and  more  frequently  than  women. 

Men  occasionally  drop  dead  by  a  sudden  explosion,  as  it  were, 
of  vital  force.  Culture,  taste,  refined  sentiments,  a  delicate 
perception  of  what  constitutes  good  breeding,  or  lays  claim  to  re- 
spect and  attentions,  weigh  nothing  where  the  chink  of  gold  gives 
more  pleasure  than  the  music  of  the  greatest  masters  of  melody. 

Women  are  apt,  with  an  unexpected  change  in  social  posi- 
tion, to  become  deaf  to  all  sounds  not  associated  with  the 
rustle  of  rich  dresses,  and  some  die  martyrs  to  an  idea  that  a 
wardrobe  makes  a  lady. 

Any  faculty  of  the  mind  may  be  exercised  to  its  exceeding 
detriment.  Allowing  the  powers  of  intellect  to  be  wholly 
given  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  to  the  exclusion  of  whatever 
relates  to  the  moral  nature,  social  duties  and  obligations,  is 
avarice.  That  is,  in  fact,  a  disease  of  the  organ  in  which  senti- 
ments are  elaborated.  It  is  a  malady  that  destroys  the  indivi- 
dual before  he  is  ready  to  enjoy  pleasures  and  advantages  he 
had  promised  himself  when  riches  were  secured. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  353 

A  history  of  trade  in  its  successful  aspects,  which  includes 
any  position  in  which  an  adequate  income  is  realized  for  per- 
sonal services  or  skill  in  the  management  of  funds,  would  show 
that  not  one  in  five  thousand  who  heap  up  treasures,  ever  has 
the  benefit  of  them.  Heirs-at-law,  who  may  never  have  earned 
a  farthing,  usually  have  the  spending  of  such  fortunes. 

"When  a  property  becomes  colossal,  a  little  of  it  is  devised  oc- 
casionally to  eleemosynary  institutions,  or  in  special  charities 
for  securing  the  favor  of  heaven,  but  not  because  such  spas- 
modic benevolence  arises  from  a  religious  sentiment. 

It  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  willingness  to  purchase 
what  could  not  be  hoped  for  on  the  score  of  merit.  A  mercan- 
tile transaction  to  the  last  breath. 

To  allow  avarice  to  obtain  a  mastery,  is  a  fatal  mistake. 
The  late  Mr.  George  Peabody  gave  a  bright  example  of  the 
way  of  finding  happiness,  by  making  others  so  with  the  abund- 
ance which  a  kind  Providence  had  placed  at  his  disposal.  The 
honored  Peter  Cooper,  of  New  York,  has  heaven  in  advance. 

The  whole  of  us,  mind  and  body,  must  be  used,  but  not 
abused.  Happiness  being  the  object  of  pursuit,  unrecorded 
miseries  are  heroically  endured  to  gain  what  cannot  be  enjoyed 
when  attained. 

Convulsive  attempts  at  reformation,  when  we  are  alarmed 
at  a  realizing  sense  of  the  results  of  disappointed  schemes,  is 
snatching  at  floating  straws. 

An  over- worked  brain  must  abide  the  consequences  of 
neglected  hygienic  laws.  For  a  woman  to  live  many  years,  she 
must  live  simply,  industriously,  and  in  obedience  to  her  inborn 
intuitive  sense  of  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  she  must 
vary  her  pursuits,  so  that  her  brain  may  have  as  much  oppor- 
tunity for  rest  as  she  requires  for  her  hands  and  feet. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
THEIR  COMPLEXION. 

Physical  Bearing — Cosmetics — Let  them  alone — Eruptions — Pearl  Powder — 
Water  as  a  Purifier — Pores  of  the  Skin — Temperature  of  the  Body — 
Insensible  Perspiration — Tint  of  the  Complexion — Antimony. 

NEVEK  perfectly  satisfied  with  what  nature  in  kindness  has 
bestowed  upon  them,  however  fresh,  healthy,  or  beautiful, 
women  are  continually  exercising  their  fertile  minds  in  pursuit 
of  means  for  improving  their  appearance.  They  tax  their 
ingenuity  for  increasing  the  effect  of  their  facial  expression  and 
figure. 

A  man  may  be  massive,  bearded,  and  manifest  the  highest 
intellectual  power,  and  yet  not  be  a  beauty.  Those  exterior 
evidences  of  his  strength  and  masculine  maturity  are  altogether 
different  from  those  traits  and  influences  which  characterize 
women.  There  are  concentrated  in  her  person  a  compound 
of  symmetry,  texture,  and  indefinable  properties  not  readily 
expressed,  which,  nevertheless,  are  felt  and  acknowledged  to 
exist. 

When  cultivated,  and  her  soul  educated  to  correspond  with 
her  positive  corporeal  attributes,  a  woman  governs  without 
speaking,  and  commands  by  an  ineffable  magnetism. 

She  has  an  innate  disposition  to  appear  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, and  in  that  way  her  power  is  augmented,  and  her  sove- 
reignty over  the  male  sex  secured. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  355 


AMBITIOUS  TO  LOOK  WELL. 

Impressed  with  a  conviction  that  she  can  improve  her 
appearance  by  processes  of  art,  women  of  all  countries  are  the 
patrons  of  cosmetics.  The  savage  female  seeks  such  appliances 
among  simples  of  the  field,  and  in  mineral  preparations,  which 
make  her  hideous,  in  her  fancied  metamorphosis  for  the  better ; 
perfectly  loathsome,  if  not  horrid,  to  the  eyes  of  a  civilized 
being. 

A  woman's  complexion,  the  expression  of  her  eyes,  the 
arrangement  of  her  hair,  the  size  of  her  hands  and  her  feet, 
occupy  her  thoughts  tpo  much,  if  truthfully  represented  by 
writers  of  their  own  sex.  And  it  is  unquestionably  true  they 
heroically  submit  to  self-imposed  tortures,  with  an  expectation 
of  appearing  essentially  improved  in  appearance  in  the  estima- 
tion of  those  with  whom  they  associate. 

Not  one  article  in  the  catalogue  of  miscalled  beautifiers,  of 
which  ladies  are  usually  munificent  patrons,  is  worth  having, 
or  free  from  objection  on  account  of  deleterious  properties  in 
their  composition. 

Most  cosmetics  are  positively  injurious  to  the  skin. 

There  are  no  exceptions  in  favor  of  any,  however  popular 
they  may  appear  from  the  representations  of  schooled  advertisers, 
or  the  opinion  of  fair  customers,  to  the  contrary. 


CUTANEOUS  BLEMISHES. 

Eruptions,  cutaneous  enlargements,  chronic  inflammatory 
flushes,  bordering  on  erysipelatous  redness,  resisting  ordinary 
discutient  applications,  are  always  made  worse  by  such  im- 
proper treatment  as  many  an  indiscreet  woman  voluntarily 


356  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

imposes  upon  herself,  under  a  hopeful  expectation  of  a  tri- 
umphant success  in  dispersing  them. 

Women  relinquish  their  idols  reluctantly;  therefore,  the 
probability  of  convincing  them  by  arguments,  or  even  the  pre- 
sentation of  facts,  that  they  would  gain  vastly  more  by 
abandoning  the  external  application  of  washes  and  powders, 
which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  important 
appendages  of  their  toilet,  is  not  entertained. 


Paints  have  been  found  with  female  mummies  in  the  cata- 
combs of  Egypt,  with  females  of  an  extinct  race  in  South 
America,  and  even  in  the  superficial  graves  of  the  aborigines, 
wherever  the  Indians  have  resided  on  this  continent. 

Bountiful  supplies  of  coloring  materials  dug  up  occasionally 
with  the  crumbling  remains  of  human  bodies,  must  have  been 
considered  indispensable  adjuncts  to  female  beauty  by  those 
who  placed  them  there,  and  prove  the  immense  antiquity  of 
such  appliances.  Some  such  discoveries  antedate  the  Pen- 
tateuch. 

On  all  the  continents,  but  especially  in  America,  revelations 
from  very  ancient  graves  testify  to  the  vanity  of  the  sex,  and 
prove,  moreover,  that  the  leading  elements  of  their  character 
have  always  been  the  same  in  every  country,  in  every  .age  and 
climate,  in  carrying  to  their  last  resting-place  materials  which 
were  contemplated  as  necessary  in  eternity  as  while  sojourning 
on  earth. 

Pearl-powder  ranks  well  with  ladies,  being  extensively  used 
by  them.  A  vague  notion  prevails  that  it  is  actually  pul- 
verized pearl,  and  consequently  must  improve  the  skin  when 
rubbed  upon  it. 

Such    ignorance,   however,   is    only    found    among    very 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  357 

superficial  fashionables,  who  have  no  aspirations  beyond  mak- 
ing a  favorable  impression,  not  by  words,  but  through  the 
instrumentality  of  art. 

It  may  fle  distasteful  intelligence  to  assure  those  who  pay 
liberally  for  genuine  pearl-powder,  the  most  approved  samples 
are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  starch.  Such  as  they  purchase 
for  their  laundries  by  the  pound,  for  stiffening  garments,  is  just 
as  good  and  valuable  as  that  sold  in  quarter-ounce  packages  at 
several  dollars,  under  the  name  of  cosmetic  pearl-powder. 

To  be  appropriately  pearled  for  street  appearance,  it  is 
usually  dusted  on  so  profusely,  as  to  give  the  self-satisfied 
adorable  a  very  mealy  look.  If  some  of  those  pearled  pro- 
menaders,  riot  unfrequently  to  be  met  with,  were  to  dip  their 
faces  into  a  dish  of  flour,  who  would  be  competent  to  decide 
that  it  was  not  genuine  impalpable  pearl-powder  ? 

To  put  it  on  plentifully,  especially  under  the  eyes,  round 
the  margin  of  the  temples,  and  on  the  cheeks,  suggests  the  idea 
to  a  spectator  that  there  may  be  too  much  of  a  good  thing. 

Even  were  it  true  that  the  application  of  refined  starch 
were  of  the  slightest  use  in  whitening  the  skin,  there  is  a 
reprehensible  proneness  to  run  into  extremes,  which  is  a  kind  of 
abuse,  not  of  a  criminal  nature. 

SUPERIORITY  OF  WATER  AS  A  COSMETIC. 

The  experience  of  centuries  places  good,  wholesome  water 
at  the  head  of  all  cosmetics.  It  is  infinitely  superior  to  chem- 
ical compounds  of  druggists,  and  always  has  been.  ~No  com- 
plexions compare  with  those  of  young  misses  who  have  had 
no  acquaintance  with  cosmetics.  That  healthy  glow  which 
tints  the  country  girl's  cheeks,  who,  unsophisticated  and  hap- 
pily ignorant  of  the  mysteries  of  a  fashionable  toilette,  can 


358  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

neither  be  improved  by  art,  nor  imitated  successfully  by 
science. 

On  being  transferred  to  a  city,  a  young  lady  first  begins  to 
imitate  those  whom  she  supposes  to  be  superior  to  herself. 
From  that  day,  her  facial  deterioration  commences.  Concen- 
trated food,  stronger  tea  and  coffee,  and  more  of  it  than  she 
had  been  accustomed  to  at  her  rural,  happy  home ;  later  hours, 
musical  excitations,  theatrical  spectacles,  new  exhibitions  of 
the  follies  and  frivolities  of  fashionable  life,  stimulate  the  pul- 
sations of  her  heart.  The  brain  is  overtaxed,  and  with  dancing 
and  phantoms,  when  day  is  turned  into  night  and  night  into 
scenes  of  bewildering  enchantments,  the  rose  is  no  longer  seen 
on  her  fair  face.  She  becomes  dyspectic,  hectic,  yellow,  and 
enfeebled. 

With  this  condition  come  physicians,  pills,  phials,  plasters 
for  a  pain  in  the  side,  and  a  troublesome  cough. 

Pearl-powder  will  not  bring  back  the  bloom  of  health,  nor 
rouge,  spread  thinly  with  consummate  skill  over  a  blanched, 
sunken  feature,  recall  the  lost  complexion.  Hygeia  is  dis- 
couraged, and  takes  her  departure. 

STRUCTURE  OF  THE  SKIN. 

The  entire  surface  of  the  body  is  pierced  by  an  infinite 
number  of  minute  openings,  known  as  pores, — the  ex- 
ternal termination  of  extremely  fine  tubes, — or  sudorific  ducts 
through  which  we  perspire. 

Their  inner  extremities  are  coiled  up  in  adipose  tissue 
below  the  skin.  Economy  in  packing,  while  being  protected 
in  a  soft  elastic  bed,  is  noticeable  in  that  beautiful  arrangement 
which  is  equally  observable  in  all  other  parts  of  the  system. 

Through  those  sweat-tubes,  aqueous  fluid  is  exhaled,  passing 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  359 

from  within  to  the  surface  where  it  escapes,  and  is  immediately 
lost  by  evaporation. 

When  the  skin  is  apparently  dry,  the  escape  of  fluid  is  con- 
stantly going  on ;  but  it  is  not  seen.  That  is  insensible  per- 
spiration. If,  however,  there  is  any  obstruction  of  the  orifices, 
so  that  the  perspirable  fluid  cannot  make  its  exit,  then  there  is 
heat  and  fever. 

If  the  temperature  of  the  body  is  raised  several  degrees  in 
consequence  of  a  quick  circulation,  the  quantity  of  perspiration 
becomes  augmented.  Should  the  air  be  at  a  lower  temper- 
ature, it  is  condensed  and  runs  down  in  streamlets.  That  is 
sweating. 

Habitual  application  of  substances  which  clog  the  emunc- 
tories  of  the  skin,  and  thereby  prevent  the  escape  of  watery- 
collections  gathered  in  the  sudorific  tubes,  must  of  course  be 
very  injurious. 

DROPSY. 

One  form  of  dropsy  is  an  undue  collection  of  fluid  in  the 
cellular  tissue  below  the  skin.  If  the  free  escape  is  propor- 
tioned to  the  quantity  separated  from  the  blood,  then  the  equi- 
librium of  health  is  maintained. 

On  the  contrary,  when  not  passing  off  regularly  as  fast  as 
collected,  serum  occasionally  collects  in  the  abdomen,  the  chest, 
or  the  limbs,  which  constitutes  regional  dropsy. 

Cosmetics  of  every  kind  must  very  considerably  interfere 
with  a  free  exit  of  perspiration,  as  a  mechanical  obstruction. 
Were  the  entire  body  plastered  over  with  a  composition  which 
absolutely  prevented  the  outlet  and  evaporation  from  the  pores, 
absolutely  necessary  in  the  economy  of  a  living  being  consti- 
tuted like  ourselves,  sad  consequences  would  immediately 
follow. 


360  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

On  the  face,  where  cosmetics  are  most  freely  applied,  the 
pores  may  be  rendered  quite  useless  if  not  destroyed  by  them. 
A  dryness,  roughness,  a  sickly  hue,  and  premature  wrinkles  are 
the  penalty  of  such  attempts  to  improve  upon  nature. 

TAMPERING  WITH  HEALTH. 

Legislation  could  not  effectually  stop  the  sale  of  quack  medi- 
cines. People,  not  by  any  means  the  most  intelligent,  will 
have  them. 

This  is  a  glorious  land  of  liberty,  in  which  every  one  takes 
what  he  likes  under  the  name  of  remedies.  Availing  themselves 
of  a  national  weakness  in  that  direction,  ingenious  speculators 
accumulate  enormous  fortunes  by  the  sale  of  pills  and  other 
nostrums,  represented  to  meet  all  the  contingencies  of  life, 
which  range  themselves  in  the  train  of  formidable  diseases. 

Oleaginous  compounds,  not  soap,  are  probably  worse  than 
liquids  of  a  stimulating  character  rubbed  on  the  skin,  because 
they  suddenly  close  up  the  pores.  The  other  generates  an  in- 
flammation that  is  slower,  but  equally  detrimental. 

Washes,  which  are  announced  to  have  a  detergent  property^ 
but  acting  upon  the  same  principle,  are  dangerous  applications. 

Simply  bathing  in  pure  water  is  a  thousand  times  superior 
to  the  most  costly  articles  for  giving  and  sustaining  that  soft, 
delicate  complexion  which  indicates  health  and  vigor. 

A  better  idea  of  the  importance  of  these  sudorific  tubes  may 
be  formed  by  this  curious  anatomical  statement,  that  were  it 
possible  to  unite  them  all  in  one  pipe,  by  joining  them  end  to 
end,  there  is  enough  of  them  on  the  surface  of  an  ordinary-sized 
woman,  some  have  supposed,  to  extend  two  miles  ! 

Remarkable  beauties  sometimes  appear  to  have  become  pre- 
maturely old.  Faded  beauties  wilt  rapidly  when  they  begin  to 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  361 

show  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf.  "Were  some  of  those  cases  in- 
vestigated scientifically,  it  might  probably  be  shown  that  they 
hastened  an  event  they  dreaded,  by  tampering  with  their  fine 
faces  with  just  such  appliances  as  we  have  here  deprecated.  In 
their  anxiety  to  prevent  the  appearance  of  deterioration,  they 
produced  prematurely  that  which  they  intended  to  prevent. 


REMOVAL  OF  BLEMISHES. 

A  yellowish,  sallow-colored  skin,  which  cannot  be  driven 
away,  even  temporarily,  by  a  flush  of  surprise,  is  best  treated  by 
water,  which  acts  beneficially.  Children  born  of  painted  or 
enamelled  mothers,  are  not  robust.  Even  their  mental  powers 
are  inferior.  They  are  life-long  sufferers  in  consequence  of 
maternal  folly. 

Fluids  taken  into  the  stomach  percolate  to  some  extent  directly 
through  its  walls,  making  an  exit  by  exosmosis  on  the  surface, 
after  having  traversed  through  various  intervening  tissues. 

It  is  by  that  disposition  of  a  portion  of  liquids  swallowed, 
the  parts  are  all  kept  soft,  supple,  and  in  a  condition  to  glide 
easily  one  upon  another  without  friction. 

By  recollecting  that  the  sudorific  tubes  are  so  numerous 
that  five  hundred  of  them  exist  in  a  single  square  inch,  it  is  no 
difficult  problem  to  explain  the  ready  transmission  of  the  fluid 
they  transmit  to  the  surface. 

On  the  back  of  the  hand  and  foot  there  are  one  thousand 
pores  to  a  square  inch.  On  the  sole  of  the  foot  and  palm  of  the 
hand  they  reach  the  amazing  number  of  two  thousand  seven 
hundred  in  a  square  inch. 

On  the  surface  of  the  whole  body  of  a  woman  of  ordinary 
stature,  there  cannot  be  fewer  than  two  millions  three  hundred 
thousand  of  those  emunctories. 


362  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

It  is  something  to  ponder  upon,  that  life,  so  precious  to  all, 
is  dependent  upon  the  action  of  such  minute,  complicated 
apparatus. 

An  excuse  has  been  offered  for  covering  up  wrinkles  with 
paste,  called  medicated  enamel,  etc.,  that  it  is  a  privilege  to  re- 
pair old  bodies  externally,  as  it  is  to  take  drugs  for  counteract- 
ing diseases. 

If  it  is  right  for  a  dilapidated  woman  to  take  tonics  for  im- 
proving her  physical  condition,  it  has  been  argued  that  it  is 
right  and  proper  to  attempt  improving  their  complexion,  by 
staining,  frescoing,  or  other  means,  according  to  her  standard 
of  taste. 

We  are  not  discussing  the  right  or  privilege  to  do  just  what 
a  woman  chooses,  as  a  free  agent,  but  contend  that  the  woman 
who  does  it,  that  is,  paints  herself,  makes  an  egregious  mistake 
to  her  personal  injury. 

Paints,  on  weather-beaten  boards,  are  to  prevent  the  absorp- 
tion of  moisture,  which  would  hasten  their  decay.  On  the 
living,  paints  prevent  the  escape  of  moisture,  a  function  that 
cannot  be  interrupted  with  impunity. 


SCRUPLES  AGAINST  ART. 

Artificial  teeth  are  not  classed  with  cosjnetics,  as  interfering 
with  vital  processes,  because  they  do  not  in  any  respect.  On 
the  contrary,  they  are  important  auxiliaries  in  preparing  food 
for  ready  digestion. 

Formerly  it  was  considered  a  sin,  by  conscientious  persons, 
to  resort  to  appliances  of  art  for  securing  either  comfort  or  an 
improved  personal  appearance.  The  argument  resorted  to  was 
this,  viz. :  When  any  part  or  portion  of  the  body  has  fallen  into 
decay,  it  is  evidently  the  pleasure  of  the  Being  who  created  us, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  363 

that  we  should  thus  gradually  go  to  pieces,  and  it  is  wrong, 
therefore,  to  proceed  contrary  to  the  divine  purpose. 

Influenced  by  such  considerations,  dentists  were  violating  a 
great  law,  and  wooden-leg  makers,  wig-makers,  and  even  oculists 
in  the  restoration  of  the  blind  to  perfect  vision,  are  guilty  of 
the  violation  of  a  law  equally  recognized  as  the  will  of  our 
Heavenly  Father. 

It  belongs  to  the  history  of  the  dental  profession,  that  less 
than  seventy  years  ago  many  toothless  ladies,  scarcely  able  to 
articulate  their  hostile  feelings  in  reference  to  the  wicked  de- 
vices of  evil-minded  men,  who  proposed  to  stud  their  toothless 
jaws  with  beautiful  artificial  teeth,  shrunk  back  with  horror  at 
the  idea  of  having  such  false  appliances. 

With  a  determination  not  to  sin  by  assuming  to  be  what 
they  are  not,  physically,  artificial  arms,  glass  eyes,  india-rubber 
bosoms — so  very  common  at  this  particular  period — would  not 
be  accepted  by  some  conscientious  people. 

Opinionated,  sectarian  reformers,  who  are  satisfied  that  their 
own  narrow  views  are  the  express  will  of  our  Heavenly  Father, 
kick  against  the  pricks  of  advancing  intelligence,  but  their  ef- 
forts are  useless.  There  is  no  statu  quo  in  nature,  nor  can  there 
be  in  humanity,  without  the  extinction  of  intellect,  and  a 
moral  death  of  society. 

Men  and  women,  with  the  light  of  modern  science 
and  literature,  cannot  be  kept  in  swaddling-clothes.  Those 
who  are  perpetually  mourning  over  the  good  old  times,  when 
they  were  young,  cannot  give  a  retrograde  motion  to 
the  earth  in  its  orbit,  nor  arrest  the  swelling  tide  of 
progress. 

There  is  another  silly  vice  to  which  fashionable  ladies  are 
prone,  that  at  least  should  be  exposed,  that  it  may  be  expen- 
sively condemned.  It  is  the  application  of  crude  pulverized 


364:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

antimony  on  the  margins  of  their  eyelids,  and  evfcn  spread  at 
the  base  of  the  under-lid,  giving  the  hollow  below  a  bluish  tint. 
The  object  is  to  increase  the  brilliancy  of  their  otherwise  spark- 
ling optics. 

It  is  unaccountable  that  it  should  be  supposed  by  quite  sen- 
sible women,  that  a  bluish  shade  of  the  skin, — a  diffused  indigo 
shading  at  that  particular  section  of  the  face, — enhances  their 
good  looks.  No  grosser  mistake  ever  quickened  their  enthu- 
siasm. 

That  is  used  largely  by  Oriental  females — the  occupants  of 
harems,  particularly — for  the  same  purpose.  But  they  are 
semi-civilized,  without  souls,  according  to  a  popular  tradition 
of  ignorant  Mahometan  proprietors. 

Repetitions  of  antimony  or  khol  make  the  eyes  irritable 
after  a  while.  They  cannot  bear  the  strong  light,  and  a  slow 
form  of  inflammation  attacks  the  lids. 

Their  custom  of  staining  their  nails,  palms  of  their  hands, 
and  even  the  soles  of  their  feet,  with  henna,  shows  their  posi- 
tion in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  and  their  strict  adherence  to 
the  customs  of  their  equally  ignorant  ancestors. 

It  was  in  Palestine  this  relic  of  remote  ages — cosmetics — 
appears  to  have  been  extensively  employed.  Mrs.  Jezebel 
painted  her  face.  The  story  of  her  tragical  death,  by  being 
thrown  from  an  upper  story  window,  incidentally  brought  with 
it  the  curious  fact  that  she  painted  her  face. 

Applying  a  weak  solution  of  aconite  to  the  corner  of  the 
eye,  now  practised,  is  intended  to  enlarge  the  pupil,  and  en- 
hance the  brilliancy  of  those  organs.  A  dangerous  practice. 

There  is  too  much  that  is  unreal.  There  are  reasonable 
boundaries,  beyond  which  it  is  dangerous  to  proceed.  Such 
practices  as  interfere  with  the  higher  range  of  vital  functions, 
should  have  appropriate  consideration. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  365 

One  of  the  latest  modern  weaknesses  that  has  had  an  exten- 
sive run,  has  been  the  passion  for  blonde  hair.  To  meet  the 
demand,  scientific  skill  has  provided  a  preparation  to  change 
chesmit,  black,  or  any  other  head  to  look  as  though  it  were 
dyed  in  a  sulphur  bath. 

Mendicant  old  women  wander  through  the  narrow  streets 
of  Damascus  with  flowing  red  locks  streaming  in  the  wind  like 
bunting  from  the  mainmast  of  a  ship.  It  is  the  coveted  color 
with  them.  Whether  they  are  disposed  to  think  it  makes  them 
attractive,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 

There  is  no  composition,  however  skilfully  prepared,  that 
will  compare  with  pure  cold  water  as  a  beautifier.  It  is  a 
perfect  solvent  for  those  accumulations  over  the  pores,  which 
are  chiefly  derived  from  desquamations  of  the  scarfskin.  If  it 
does  not  readily  remove  them,  it  is  owing  to  some  mineral 
elements  held  in  it  that  give  it  a  quality  called  hard.  Emolli- 
ent soaps  with  tepid  water  is  a  never-failing  success. 

Simple  warm-water  baths,  without  the  addition  of  cologne, 
camphor,  whiskey,  rum,  white  wine,  etc.,  etc., — which  it  is  ex- 
tremly  difficult  to  persuade  fashionable  ladies  are  not  essen- 
tial,— or  of  the  slightest  utility. 

Avoid  advertised  preparations,  however  much  extolled  in 
certificates  from  irresponsible  sources.  They  are  deceptions. 
"Water  is  plenty,  inodorous,  tastless,  colorless,  aud  precisely 
meets  the  demands  of  our  nature  externally. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
FEMALE  EDUCATION. 

What  Education  is  not — New  Avenues  for  Industry  must  be  Opened  for 
Women — Excess  of  Female  Population — They  have  been  Neglected. 

.LIBEAEIES  are  burdened  with  essays  on  this  subject,  and 
there  is  room  for  more.  Every  one  who  has  given  attention  to  it, 
seems  oppressed  with  new  theories  and  plans,  exceedingly  im- 
portant in  the  estimation  of  those  from  whom  they  emanate. 
Each  writer  contemplates  his  own  proposition  as  the  only 
fitting  method  for  elevating  woman  to  the  sphere  she  was 
designed  to  adorn. 

Men  who  never  had  the  honor  of  having  a  daughter,  and 
desiccated  spinsters  who  will  never  be  mothers,  are  those  most 
disposed  to  contribute  copiously  to  the  literature  of  female 
education.  Neither  of  them  are  qualified  for  guides.  It  is 
a  matter  of  profound  interest  to  those  who  appreciate  the 
importance  of  educational  training,  to  determine  how  females 
should  be  taught  to  meet  the  ever- varying  phases  of  modern 
society. 

Education  does  not  mean  learning  to  read  and  write,  work- 
ing worsted  artistically,  or  playing  the  piano.  Nor  should  the 
mind  of  woman  be  regarded  of  such  small  value  as  to  be  put 
off  with  indifferent  instruction. 

Christian  civilization  should  righteously  recognize  her  as 
man's  intellectual  equal.  A  question  yet  to  be  decided  is, 
whether  she  is  not  also  his  political  equal. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  337 

If  she  has  not  the  same  amount  of  muscular  strength,  she 
has  the  same  number  of  muscles,  disposed  of  in  the  same 
manner. 

Modern  thinkers  on  the  constitution  and  mission  of  human- 
ity, tacitly  admit  an  equality  of  the  sexes.  That  old  adage, 
that  man  is  strong  and  woman  weak,  is  properly  questioned  of 
late.  A  woman's  imaginary  pictures  of  moral  worth,  virtue, 
and  beauty,  are  better  drawn  than  those  by  men. 

In  language,  music,  and  the  fine  arts,  she  is  by  no  means 
inferior.  Her  mechanical  ingenuity  in  construction  is  not  un- 
frequently  very  surprising.  The  constructive  faculty  of  woman 
is  far  above  the  level  assigned  her.  Devices  displayed  in 
needlework,  pottery,  sculpture,  designs,  the  actual  manufacture 
of  metallic  pens,  jewelry,  timepieces,  and  the  peculiar  finish 
given  to  watches, — the  product  of  their  own  hands  in  this 
country, — confirm  an  opinion  long  entertained,  that  they  are 
unequalled  mechanics,  when  systematically  instructed,  as  men 
are  taught  a  handicraft. 

A  needle  is  a  tool.  If  they  can  direct  that  adroitly,  as  it  is 
admitted  they  do,  they  might,  with  equal  facility,  vary  their 
pursuits,  and  use  other  instruments  just  as  readily.  In  watch- 
making, particularly,  proprietors  of  great  establishments  ac- 
knowledge their  unrivalled  skill  and  delicacy  of  touch. 

Therefore,  it  must  be  admitted  women  can  do  with  their 
fingers  whatever  men  accomplish.  Custom,  more  .arbitrary  than 
laws,  has  placed  them  where  they  are  not  required  to  engage  in 
many  rough  employments,  ordinarily  considered  within  the 
province  of  men,  simply  because  the  dress  of  the  latter  gives 
them  greater  freedom  of  motion,  favorable  for  a  free,  energetic, 
and  speedy  exercise  of  their  limbs. 


368  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

PRACTICAL  INSTRUCTION. 

There  are  trades  and  pursuits  which  women  are  abundantly 
able  to  conduct  with  advantage  to  themselves  and  society ;  and 
their  education,  therefore,  should  have  that  practical  direction 
which  will  qualify  them  to  engage  in  honorable,  remunerative 
efforts.  In-door  industries,  commonly  assigned  to  females, 
rarely  bring  them  compensation  enough  for  purchasing  decent 
clothing.  They  are  certainly  entitled  to  something  beyond  the 
demands  of  immediate  necessity.  An  opportunity  to  acquire 
more  than  is  needed  for  the  present,  in  reference  to  the  future, 
should  not  be  denied  them. 

Such  is  the  extraordinary  activity  of  the  human  mind  at  this 
particular  juncture,  there  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  mechanical 
business,  however  humble,  that  is  not  facilitated  and  made 
easier  through  the  inventive  genius  of  man.  Machines  make 
shoe-lasts,  shoes,  boots,  ox-yokes,  rakes,  wheels,  gun-stocks, 
mowers,  reapers,  ropes,  cordage,  carpets,  cloth,  hats :  and,  in 
short,  what  is  there  needed  in  the  daily  affairs  of  life  not  made 
by  automatic  machinery  ?  Certainly  spinning,  weaving,  card- 
ing, reeling,  sewing,  knitting,  and  hundreds  of  other  similar 
operations  are  wholly  accomplished  by  machines  propelled  by 
water,  steam,  or  electricity,  as  though  animated  by  an  intelli- 
gent spirit  within.  Cannon  cast  solidly  are  bored  of  any 
determined  calibre,  without  personal  attention,  when  once  the 
drill  is  set  in  motion. 

Even  pictures  are  copied  by  machinery,  and  news  is  sent 
round  the  globe  in  a  few  minutes,  so  that  everything  bears  testi- 
mony to  the  resources  of  genius  in  the  production  of  many 
modes  of  doing  what  was  formerly  the  product  of  human 
hands. 

One  machine  performs  the  work  of  hundreds  of  operatives, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  369 

and  yet  nothing  is  cheapened,  as  might  reasonably  be  expected 
with  the  facilities  of  this  over-fast  age. 

"When  boots  and  shoes,  stockings,  cloths,  hats,  coats,  dresses, 
etc.,  were  slowly  fabricated  by  hand-labor,  they  were  far 
cheaper  than  at  present. 

How  can  it  be  explained  ? 

A  machine  moved  by  steam-power  will  now  turn  out  three 
hundred  pairs  of  ladies'  boots  in  one  day,  and  yet  they  actually 
cost  more  than  when  a  good  workman  could  scarcely  make  two 
pairs  in  a  day,  using  his  greatest  diligence. 

There  seems  scarcely  a  limit  to  what  is  possible,  when  men 
of  genius  interrogate  nature. 

Therefore,  there  is  a  necessity  for  opening  new  avenues  for 
female  enterprise.  The  spheres  they  have  occupied  from  a  re- 
mote antiquity  are  closed  to  them,  in  the  way  of  industry,  by 
inventions  which  wholly  supersede  them. 

Women  must  have  bread  and  breathing-room,  even  if  the 
population  can  be  served  better  and  more  rapidly  than  formerly 
by  their  busy  fingers. 

Armies,  navies,  and  the  mercantile  marine  take  away  vast 
numbers  of  men.  Women  remain  at  home,  and  hence  they 
outnumber  very  largely  the  males  in  cities  and  in  the  old  States  of 
the  Union.  Their  prospect  is  discouraging  for  sustaining  them- 
selves, unless  society  accords  to  them  the  right  to  engage  in  pur- 
suits which  were  once  considered  exclusively  belonging  to  men. 

There  are  more  women  than  men  in  many  of  the  European 
states  and  kingdoms,  and  it  is  so  also  in  extensive  countries  of 
Asia  and  Africa. 

This  excess  of  female  population  is  due  entirely  to  the  evil 
propensities  of  men  :  their  love  for  roaming  excitement,  a  bel- 
ligerent disposition,  and  the  exactions  of  despotic  rulers  who 
control  their  destiny  in  many  countries. 


370  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Most  cities  on  the  coast  lines  of  the  United  States  have  an 
excess  of  females  by  far  outnumbering  the  male  population. 
Sea-service,  the  needs  of  new  lands  for  agricultural  laborers  far 
back  in  the  interior ;  mining  operations  now  extensively  car- 
ried on  in  the  great  mining  regions  of  the  West,  induce  men  to 
leave  their  native  places  to  better  their  circumstances,  while 
their  wives  and  sisters  and  daughters  remain  at  home. 

Women  cannot  submit  to  the  hardships,  privations,  and 
demoralizing  tendencies  of  many  pursuits  which  characterize 
those  far-off  enterprises.  There  is  a  rudeness  of  manner,  and  a 
disregard  for  conventional  forms  which  belong  to  cultivated 
society.  Civilization  accords  to  women  the  expectation  of  being 
treated  as  beings  holding  a  balance  of  power  in  those  social 
relations  which  secure  propriety  and  refinement ;  and  all,  in  fact, 
which  is  good,  noble,  and  morally  elevated  in  any  community, 
forbids  they  should  be  exposed  to  the  roughness,  rudeness,  and 
hardships  of  gold-digging  researches. 

LAW  OF  EQUALIZATION. 

An  equalization  of  the  sexes  is  maintained  with  peculiar 
regularity  in  the  animal  kingdom.  Where  there  is  an  apparent 
excess  of  one  or  the  other,  it  is  due  to  local  causes ;  but  it  in  no 
way  effects  a  law  which  secures  results  most  beneficial  to  the 
perpetuity  of  a  species.  There  is  neither  failure  in  the  law  of 
reproduction  to  meet  losses,  nor  the  least  danger  of  extinction, 
unless  a  ruthless  war  of  extermination  is  waged  by  man,  in  the 
hunting  of  beaver,  buffaloes,  and  whales. 

When  males  are  too  numerous,  they  fight  among  themselves, 
and  slaughter  one  another  till  a  proper  proportion  in  reference 
to  the  females  is  established.  If  females  are  in  excess,  there  is 
a  law  of  adjustment  immediately  brought  into  operation  which 


THE   WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

reduces  them  gradually  without  producing  violent  commotion 
or  perceptible  disturbance. 

Again,  it  is  equally  curious  to  observe  that  when  there  are 
too  many  inhabitants  in  a  given  area,  among  wild  animals  or 
even  aquatic  beings,  so  that  the  products  of  the  soil  or  a  feed- 
ing region  of  the  sea  are  inadequate  to  their  healthy  support, 
disease  comes  in  the  character  of  an  equalizing  agent.  Thus 
epidemics  and  plagues  in  over-stocked  cities  invariably  subside 
at  a  point  that  saves  a  remnant,  since  extinction  is  not  contem- 
plated in  a  law  which  the  philosopher  recognizes  as  a  means  of 
securing  a  connecting  link  in  a  long  chain  of  existence,  the  loss 
of  which  might  lead  to  conditions  and  revolutions  quite  beyond 
our  comprehension. 

Alarms  are  occasionally  sounded  in  village  lecture-rooms, 
that  women  so  much  outnumber  men  in  the  New  England 
States, — being  regarded  as  non-producers  in  an  agricultural 
sense, — that  something  must  be  done  to  meet  the  emergency. 

It  is  not  alleged  they  are  idle,  or  in  any  respect  a  burden  to 
the  community.  They  consume  food,  to  be  sure,  and  it  is 
equally  true  they  neither  plough,  chop  wood,  or  labor  in  the 
field,  nor  should  they  do  either. 

WOMEI*  ABE  ORDERLY. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for  alarm,  because  women 
never  band  together  for  political  agitation;  they  never  pre- 
pare revolutions,  nor  is  social  order  outraged  by  them,  however 
erratic  a  few  peculiar  individuals  may  appear  in  vain  attempts 
and  exhibitions  not  in  accordance  with  their  nature. 

Women  neither  infest  bar-rooms,  loiter  away  the  day  in 
saloons,  lager-beer  vaults,  or  march  through  town  in  hostile 
bands,  destroying  printing-offices,  or  combine  in  squads  for  rob- 


372  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

bing  railroad  trains.  Neither  do  they  stuff  ballot-boxes,  nor 
break  open  prisons  for  the  liberation  of  thieves  or  accomplices 
in  wickedness. 

They  are  not  proper  persons  for  running  up  and  down  the 
rigging  of  a  vessel.  They  could  not  conveniently  glide  to  the 
extremity  of  a  yard-arm  and  take  in  sail  in  a  gale  of  wind. 
Their  organization  unfits  them  for  balancing  themselves  on  a 
spar  while  their  hands  were  belaying  the  wings  of  a  scudding 
ship.  They  could  not  swing  an  axe  in  felling  forests,  drilling 
rocks  in  excavating  canals,  because  the  management  of  the  in- 
struments used  in  such  labors  would  interfere  with  the  health 
of  organs  essential  to  maternity. 

WHAT  THEY  CAN  Do. 

But  they  possess  all  the  requisite  physical  and  intellectual 
qualifications  for  managing  mercantile  business,  and  for  sus- 
taining themselves  with  dignity  and  success  as  teachers,  from  a 
common  school  to  chairs  in  universities. 

Wherever  intelligence,  diligence,  accuracy,  and  honesty  are 
in  estimation  as  pre-requisites  for  positions,  women  are  prepared 
for  them. 

They  have  not  been  taken  into  favor  in  the  past,  in  such  re- 
lations, because  the  necessity  for  it  did  not  apparently  exist,  as 
it  now  does.  One  sewing  machine  is  equal  to  one  hundred 
hand-sewers.  Yet  while  they  kept  all  people  clothed  by  their 
needle"  industry,  their  wages  were  shamefully  undervalued. 

While  their  hardy,  bold,  adventurous  fathers,  brothers, 
and  husbands  are  wending  their  way  to  distant  regions  in 
search  of  localities  in  which  their  prospects  would  be  more  satis- 
factory, their  daughters  and  wives  remain  where  they  were,  it 
being  neither  proper  nor  always  convenient  to  go  with  them  to 


THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN.  373 

border  settlements  before  some  preparation  is  made  for  their 
reception. 

Women,  even  in  nominally  Christian  countries,  have  been 
so  long  excluded  and  neglected,  and,  worse  still,  taught  to  be- 
lieve it  was  wrong  to  be  seen  or  heard  outside  the  house,  it  has 
become  a  prevalent  opinion  among  ignoramuses  they  ought  to 
remain,  there,  even  if  left  in  ignorance  and  poverty. 

While  the  idea  is  nursed  that  it  is  improper  for  women  to 
be  exposed  to  sunshine,  because  it  might  bronze  their  complex- 
ion ;  or  exposed  to  out-door  air,  they  might  take  cold  ;  or  seen 
where  men  congregate  to  buy,  sell,  and  get  gain,  inalienable 
rights  are  denied  them, — they  are  wronged. 

What  is  the  duty  of  society,  now  that  competition  in  all  de- 
partments of  business  makes  them  far  more  dependent  than 
formerly, — especially  since  they  outnumber  the  male  popula- 
tion* in  the  great  centres  of  human  activity  ? 

LEGISLATION  FOR  AMELIORATING  THEIR  CONDITION. 

Legislation  in  their  behalf  practically  amounts  to  nothing. 
Acts  defining  their  hours  of  labor  in  factories  or  milliners' 
shops,  are  farces.  It  is  about  the  same  in  respect  to  the  school- 
ing of  young  girls  employed  in  manufacturing  establishments. 

They  should  have  both  protection  and  assistance.  The  lat- 
ter is  the  urgent  demand. 

Ladies  of  fortune,  and  indeed  those  who  are  amply  provided 
for  through  an  affectionate  forecast  of  provident  fathers,  mo- 
thers, and  relatives,  cannot  comprehend  or  understand  the 
cry  that  reaches  to  heaven  for  millions  of  poor,  heart-aching, 
penniless  women;  nor  do  those  whose  beauty  has  won  for 
them  privileges,  comforts,  and  influence  which  wealth  com- 
mands, sympathize  sufficiently  with  the  less  fortunate  of  their 


374  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

sex  who  are  apparently  born  to  a  hapless  destiny.  Those  who 
are  floating  on  a  summer  sea  of  prosperity  are  especially  be- 
sought to  listen  to  a  plea  for  help  from  an  oppressed,  neglected 
sisterhood. 

There  are  not  agriculturists  enough  in  this  country;  and, 
consequently,  with  an  abundance  of  the  best  and  most  produc- 
tive land  on  the  globe,  all  the  necessaries  of  life  are  excessively 
dear.  The  supply  is  not  equal  to  the  demand.  Western 
grain-growing  prairies  might  furnish  the  world,  were  they  all 
tilled. 


OUT  OF  PLACE. 

Thousands  of  puny,  pale-faced,  feminine,  sickly,  poorly-de- 
veloped young  men,  defective  in  muscular  energy,  enough  in 
number  for  a  great  army,  even  were  half  of  them  musterejl  in 
a  body,  abound  in  cities,  who  would  have  the  strength  and 
character  of  men  if  they  were  cultivating  land  instead  of  meas- 
uring tape  with  a  yard-stick. 

They  are  wasting  the  best  years  of  life,  deteriorating  bodily 
and  mentally  in  counting-houses,  banks,  insurance  offices, 
confined  retail  shops,  telegraph  stations,  etc.,  who  ought  to  be 
infinitely  more  useful  were  they  transferred  to  the  open  fields, 
devoted  to  agriculture. 

They  should  yield  their  places  at  desks  and  behind  counters 
to  women,  qualified  to  do  all  they  do,  who  are  suffering  for 
employments  for  which  they  are  abundantly  qualified. 

A  social  revolution  is  required  to  purify  the  corrupt  atmo- 
sphere of  cities,  by  driving  out  worthless,  dissipated  young 
men,  and  giving  their  places  to  worthy  young  women.  How 
many  delicate  stomachs  are  scantily  supplied,  and  lungs  de- 
stroyed for  want  of  wholesome  air  to  breathe,  boxed  up  in 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  375 

lofts  and  stifled  apartments,  who  would  be  excellent  clerks  and 
accountants.  Let  some  philanthropist  set  the  example  of 
patronizing  honest  females  instead  of  fast  moral  nuisances. 

If  those  puny,  sallow,  spindle-legged  exquisites,  whose 
greatest  achievement  is  raising  a  moustache,  were  to  change 
the  society  of  inkstands  for  broad  acres  in  the  West,  they 
would  expand  as  much  in  mind  as  body,  and,  perhaps,  lay  a 
foundation  for  comfort,  independence,  and  longevity,  which 
are  not  within  their  grasp  in  the  confined  circumstances  to 
which  their  vocation  limits  them,  especially  when  they  riot  in 
dissipations. 

Those  feeble,  sickly,  neglected  girls,  in  pestiferous  lanes, 
narrow,  dark  streets,  sunless  houses,  upstairs  in  sombre  rooms, 
or  cellar,  should  be  assisted  as  they  might  be,  and  instructed 
to  command  l|etter  compensation  for  their  services. 

Were  loud-mouthed  philanthropists  more  familiar  with  the  \ 
painful  condition  of  thousands  of  young  women  who  might  be  ' 
elevated    and   directed  in  useful,   remunerative  pursuits,    by  \ 
half  the  attention  bestowed  upon  institutions    which  do   far 
more  for  those  who  have  immediate  charge  of  them  than  for 
their  inmates,  heaven  would  bless  their  efforts. 

How  TO  PROCEED. 

First,  qualify  those  neglected  girls  by  sending  them  to  com- 
mercial schools  to  learn  bookkeeping ;  have  them  taught  tele- 
graphy, how  to  conduct  business  in  life-insurance  offices,  to  be 
tellers  in  banks,  accountants,  designers,  engravers,  teachers  of 
languages,  musical  instructors,  have  them  taught  the  science  of 
surveying  ;  and,  finally,  qualify  them  for  positions  always  pre- 
senting, where  they  could  do  all  that  young  men  do  in  such 
relations  as  are  indicated  in  this  general  scheme  for  usefulness, 


376  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

and  even  many  more  that  might  be  particularized  in  this 
miscellaneous  grouping  of  industries. 

Young  girls,  thus  qualified,  would  sustain  themselves  with 
honor.  And  it  will  be  conceded,  they  are  far  less  predisposed 
to  deteriorating  vices  than  young  men. 

They  neither  smoke,  drink,  nor  gamble,  visit  race-courses, 
organize  boat-clubs,  carouse  through  the  night,  or  engage 
in  any  of  those  dissipations  which  lead  to  deceptions,  breach 
of  confidence,  or  expose  them  to  the  attacks  of  knaves  or 
thieves 

Defalcations,  absconding  with  funds  of  a  patron,  embezzle- 
ment of  money  in  their  care,  forging  notes,  falsifying  checks, 
etc.,  would  not  occur,  as  they  now  do,  were  young  women 
placed  where  they  should  be  introduced.  Their  instincts  and 
tendencies,  even  with  no  moral  training,  are  alw%ys  superior  to 
men  of  the  same  social  grade.  They  are  naturally  virtuous, 
honest,  and  sincere. 

Wherever  a  pen  is  in  requisition,  careful  reckoning,  exact 
computation,  or  an  orderly  attendance  is  an  element  of  im- 
portance, a  well-instructed  woman  is  always  equal,  and  in  many 
trying  circumstances,  even  superior  to  a  man. 

It  would  be  a  splendid  recognition  of  female  ability  to  sus- 
tain responsible  positions,  .were  trustees  of  estates,  directors, 
and  other  governing  spirits  in  moneyed  institutions,  to  exchange 
platoons  of  burly,  rough,  unpolished,  uncivil,  bewhiskered 
clerks,  whose  thoughts  are  more  on  whiskey  and  tobacco  than 
on  the  interest  of  their  employers,  for  an  equal  number  of 
quiet,  delicate,  modest,  neatly  attired  young  women.  They  are 
much  more  deserving  than  any  one  imagines,  who  simply  feels  a 
woman  is  a  sort  of  a  fifth  wheel  of  a  coach,  only  to  be  cared  for 
when  it  is  impossible  to  do  without  her. 

They  would  be  less  expensive  as  clerks,  and,  as  experience 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  377 

would  prove,  perfectly  reliable.  Let  those  who  are  stockholders, 
and,  indeed,  any  and  all  who  would  encourage  the  deserving, 
make  the  experiment.  Their  cash  would  be  in  safe  keeping 
instead  of  being  squandered  in  stock-jobbing  speculations — so 
frequently  practised  by  men  anxious  to  turn  another's  penny  in 
haste  to  be  rich. 

COMPENSATION. 

Women  should  be  paid  for  what  they  do  as  much  as  is  given 
to  men  for  the  same  service.  If  they  accomplish  just  as  much 
in  a  given  time,  and  as  satisfactorily  as  a  being  in  pantaloons, 
why  should  they  not  have  the  same  compensation  ? 

It  is  disgraceful  meanness  for  an  employer  to  pay  only  one 
dollar  to  a  woman,  because  the  is  a  woman,  for  work  in  a 
printing-office,  for  example,  for  which  a  man  gets  three  or  four 
for  precisely  the  same  labor,  just  because  he  belongs  to  the 
masculine  gender. 

A  lame  excuse  for  such  unjust  recompense  is,  that  the 
clothing  of  females  is  less  expensive  than  male  garments, — 
and  further,  custom  sanctions  the  scale  of  prices  for  labor.  But 
both  are  frivolous  and  absurd  apologies  for  doing  unjustly. 

Whether  their  clothing  costs  less  or  more,  is  nothing  to  the 
point.  They  are  justly  entitled  to  what  they  earn.  Their 
stomachs  are  as  keen  for  a  beefsteak  as  their  competitors'  in 
full  beards,  who  squander  more  in  one  evening  at  a  bar-room 
than  a  female  compositor  could  earn  in  a  week  at  the  present 
rate  of  compensation. 

The  chart  of  female  employments  has  been  under  considera- 
tion for  years.  Excellent  speeches  have  also  been  made,  beau- 
tiful expressions  have  gone  forth,  redounding  more  to  the  praise 
of  those  that  uttered  them,  than  to  the  profit  of  those  in  whose 
behalf  they  were  sent  abroad.  The  poor,  hard-working,  poorly- 


3Y8  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

paid  girls  have  no  more  pudding  than  when  nobody  cared 
whether  they  lived  in  wretchedness,  or  died  in  a  hovel. 

Political  equality  and  political  suffrage  for  women,  per- 
petually discussed  topics  with  those  who  make  capital  for  them- 
selves, under  a  pretence  of  being  oppressed  by  the  wrongs  of 
women,  have  not  yet  bettered  the  condition  of  the  class  for 
whom  their  sound,  but  not  their  substance,  has  been  given. 

Political  hypocrites  and  professional  philanthropists  are 
leeches,  subsisting  on  what  they  get  out  of  the  people  by  excit- 
ing their  sympathy. 

After  ages  may  regulate  conflicting  claims,  and  settle  diffi- 
cult problems  in  regard  to  labor,  but  it  will  be  a  long  while 
before  the  poor  will  be  made  happy  by  philanthropic  resolu- 
tions at  anniversary  meetings,  where  there  are  vice-presidents 
enough  to  freight  a  steamboat,  but  no  substantial  assistance  for 
the  ostensible  objects  of  their  overflowing  benevolence  of  words. 

We  are  contemplating  the  present  period  ;  but  when  the  cry 
of  the  oppressed  goes  up  to  the  court  of  Heaven,  where  records 
are  truly  kept,  the  claims  of  that  large  class,  whose  misfortunes 
are  the  text  in  this  sermon,  will  be  adjudicated,  and  their 
wrongs  righted. 

No  objections  are  entertained  against  any  system  of  instruc- 
tion which  enlarges  the  domain  of  female  knowledge,  or  that 
qualifies  them  to  act  in  any  capacity  in  which  men  ought  not  to 
act,  while  there  is  an  excess  of  female  population. 

Parents  are  bound  to  pursue  a  course,  in  the  education  of 
daughters,  that  promises  best  for  their  success  in  honorable 
industry. 

WHAT  PARENTS  SHOULD  Do. 

There  is  neither  radicalism  nor  sectarianism  in  this.  When 
fathers  and  mothers  cannot  lay  aside  property  for  their  children, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  379 

in  this  land  of  free  schools,  they  can  qualify  them  to  provide  for 
themselves. 

Gloomy  pictures  might  be  drawn,  illustrative  of  the  degra- 
dation of  women  in  over-crowded  cities,  and  the  vicious  lives 
some  are  forced  to  lead,  or  die  of  starvation,  from  which  they 
would  joyfully  escape  if  they  could.  Life  or  death  are  solemn 
sounds  to  a  shrinking,  timid  girl,  fashioned  in  the  form  of  an 
angel,  famished  in  the  sight  of  plenty  of  which  she  canno4:  taste. 

Police  courts,  jails,  penitentiaries,  and  reformatories  present 
sickening  statistics  of  perverted  powers,  and  wrecks  of  beauty 
in  sloughs  of  despondency,  that  could  have  been  saved  to  adorn 
society,  had  they  been  cared  for  by  those  who,  from  their  posi- 
tion, might  and  should  have  taken  them  by  the  hand.  But  it 
is  too  much  of  a  sacrifice  for  some  exceedingly  good  persons  to 
step  out  of  their  way  to  save  a  saint. 

Books  need  not  be  consulted,  bloody  tragedies  cited,  per- 
sonal narrations,  or  painful  scenes  of  misery  sought,  to  strengthen 
the  appeal  we  are  making. 

In  pagan  and  Mohammedan  countries  women  have  no  such 
unhappiness  as  is  admitted  to  be  common  in  Christian  lands. 
They  have  homes  in  harems  which  are  sacred,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  brutes  in  the  form  of  men  ;  but  they  are  never  outcasts 
on  the  street,  seeking  like  starved  beasts  of  prey  whom  they 
may  devour. 

We  speak  of  them  as  pitiable  objects,  ignorant  of  their 
rights  as  human  beings  to  equal  privileges,  and  the  same  social 
status,  exclusively  in  the  possession  of  their  proprietors,  for  they 
are  contemplated  as  property. 

With  such  degradation,  however,  there  are  no  brothels, — 
none  of  that  wickedness  which  is  a  reproach  to  civilization,  and 
a  curse  where  women  are  denied  those  rights  which  flow  from 
fountains  of  justice. 


380  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

"We  beg  to  urge  upon  those  who  may  begin  to  reflect  anew 
upon  this  subject,  to  assist  according  to  their  pecuniary  ability 
in  qualifying  intelligent  young  women  for  something  that  will 
bring  them  a  proper  and  just  reward  for  their  industry,  more 
than  what  they  can  earn  with  a  needle. 

Give  them  opportunities  for  acquiring  French,  German, 
Spanish,  and  other  languages,  and  assist  them  to  positions  in 
telegraph  stations,  where  they  could  make  those  languages  of 
the  first  importance  for  business  correspondence.  They  ought 
to  be,  and  it  is  believed  they  would  prove  the  best,  most  accur- 
ate, and  always  punctual  operators. 

Boston,  Portland,  Hartford,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Bal- 
timore, Washington,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  etc., 
etc.,  would  give  ample  employment  for  thousands  of  such 
accomplished  telegraphers  as  they  might  be,  if  public  sentiment 
were  enlisted  in  their  favor. 

By  opening  such  avenues  as  have  thus  far  been  closed  to 
them,  and  by  it,  virtually  compelling  young  men  to  enter  upon 
more  appropriate  pursuits  than  weighing  out  tea  by  the  pound, 
or  selling  pins  and  needles,  a  gratifying  change  would  come 
over  the  land.  Bread  would  be  cheaper. 

We  are  hoping  that  phonography,  telegraphy,  drawing, 
designing,  engraving,  and  many  other  useful  arts,  may  be 
taught  in  all  well-conducted  country  schools,  expressly  for 
qualifying  girls  in  those  remunerative  branches  of  industry. 

Give  young  women  who  may  be  dependent  on  their  per- 
sonal efforts,  a  knowledge  of  the  art  or  science  for  which  they 
have  a  decided  preference.  If  philanthropists  will  give  their 
support  in  that  direction,  health,  happiness,  and  independence 
will  crown  their  efforts. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 
ACQUIRING  LANGUAGES. 

Capacity  for  Certain  Pursuits — Waste  of  Life — Foreign  Dialects — We  are 
Called  a  One-tongued  People — How  to  Acquire  a  Language — Dogs 
Learn  the  Meaning  of  Words — Curious  Facts — Qualifications  for  Tele- 
graphing. 

THERE  are  persons  who.  have  a  faculty  for  making  more 
rapid  progress  than  others  in  mastering  a  new  language.  It  is 
familiar  to  those  wholly  ignorant  of  the  science  of  phrenology, 
that  there  is  a  singular  difference  among  persons  of  the  same 
age,  position,  and  opportunities,  in  acquiring  specific  or  general 
knowledge. 

It  would  be  ridiculous  to  assert  that  one  boy  may  become 
just  as  expert  as  another  in  figures  or  some  kind  of  handicraft, 
under  precisely  the  same  instruction.  One  will  learn  Latin  or 
French  rapidly,  which  his  companion  at  the  same  desk,  with  the 
same  facilities,  cannot  acquire  so  readily  under  precisely  the 
same  training. 

Some  have  an  intuitive  perception,  where  others,  of  equal 
intelligence,  cannot  make  satisfactory  progress. 

There  are  natural  mathematicians,  as  there  are,  also,  natural 
linguists.  Memory  is  differently  manifested,  since  some 
persons  remember  certain  things  better  than  others.  One 
cannot  recall  names  of  places  or  men,  yet  there  is  a  distinct  re- 
collection of  faces  and  peculiarities  of  each. 

By  this  curious  difference  in  the  arrangement  of  cerebral 


382  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

matter,  there  is  a  man  and  woman  precisely  fitted  for  every 
imaginable  place. 

That  peculiarity  is  acknowledged  at  the  temple-door  of 
philosophy.  Thus  every  shade  of  mental  development  is  recog- 
nized, and,  as  no  two  are  alike,  there  is  a  brain  to  meet  every 
condition  and  all  circumstances  in  the  management  of  a 
world. 

There  is  an  unquestionable  difference  in  the  structure  of 
human  brains.  Though  apparently  alike  in  their  general  con- 
figuration, in  the  materials  of  which  they  are  formed,  and  in 
the  manner,  too,  of  circulating  the  blood  through  the  mass,  the 
arrangement  of  the  atoms  of  which  the  cerebrum  is  constructed, 
is  infinitely  varied. 

Different  races  of  men  differ  essentially  in  mental  force. 
Size,  of  course,  has  to  be  considered  in  a  search  for  a  reason  why 
one  brain  is  more  powerful  in  resources  than  another.  There 
are  walking  polyglots,  but  far  more  are  incapable  of  speaking 
their  mother  tongue  grammatically. 

If  certain  convolutions  of  the  brain  are  more  prominent  than 
others,  according  to  the  teachings  of  those  who  know  nothing 
about  the  subject,  they  are  charged  with  force  corresponding  to 
their  development.  About  thirty  protuberances  are  marked  on 
charts,  which  the  disciples  of  Gall  and  Spurzheim  recognized  as 
locations  of  distinct  faculties. 

If  a  ganglionic  elevation  happens  to  be  the  organ  of  lan- 
guage, and  has  been  better  nourished,  or  rather  more  frequently 
excited  than  its  neighbors,  it  will  give  evidence  of  its  superior- 
ity ;  while  twenty-nine  are  feeble  or  embryotic. 

We  need  not  consult  authors  to  facilitate  progress  in  acquir- 
ing a  new  language.  Men,  women,  and  children  are  constantly 
met  who  have  the  faculty  of  articulating  many  languages  flu- 
ently, who  can  neither  read  nor  write.  It  is  curious  that  re- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  383 

markable  linguistic  scholars  rarely  contribute  much  to  the  fund 
of  general  literature. 

Certain  conditions  are  thought  to  be  essential  in  learning  to 
speak  a  new  language ;  but  experience  and  observation  show, 
very  positively,  that  under  even  unfavorable  circumstances,  as 
they  would  be  estimated  by  scholars,  little  children  on  the 
frontiers  of  Germany,  France,  Poland,  Russia,  Italy,  etc.,  where 
there  is  a  meeting,  as  it  were,  of  strange  tongues,  are  perfectly 
fluent  in  four,  five,  and  even  in  six  modern  languages,  yet 
wholly  unable  to  read  or  write  either  of  them. 

There  is  no  marvel  in  all  this.  They  are  so  located  that 
they  cannot  avoid  having  their  ears  saluted  quite  as  frequently 
with  foreign  words  as  their  own.  Neither  effort,  study,  ex- 
ercises, or  recitations,  are  ever  brought  to  their  assistance. 

EDUCATION  OF  THE  EAR. 

The  ear  is  an  avenue  through  which  linguistic  development 
is  accomplished,  and  not  by  the  study  of  books,  or  recitations  of 
authorized  lessons  of  grammarians. 

Such  is  the  commercial  intercourse  of  one  part  of  the  busi- 
ness world  with  another,  there  is  a  positive  necessity  for  one 
language,  at  least,  besides  our  own.  Great  transactions  with 
foreign  nations  could  not  be  conducted  with  any  kind  of  facility 
without  the  assistance  of  those  who  understand  the  meaning  and 
intentions  of  both  parties,  if  neither  understood  the  language  of 
the  other. 

Progress  in  literature,  science,  art,  and  mechanism,  would 
be  extremely  circumscribed,  and  confined  to  narrow  boundaries, 
were  it  not  for  scholars  who  change  one  language  into  another, 
and  thus  put  readers  in  communication  with  all  mankind. 

The  people  of  the  United   States  are  regarded  as  a  one- 


384  THE  WAYS   OF   WOMEN. 

tongued  population.  Millions  of  foreigners,  representatives  of 
every  power  in  Europe,  are  interspersed  through  the  land,  but 
they  are  compelled  to  acquire  English,  or  pass  a  lonely  pilgrim- 
age without  conversational  intercourse. 

We  rarely  give  ourselves  the  trouble  to  learn  the  language 
of  new-comers  from  abroad.  If  they  desire  a  social  acquaint- 
ance, they  must  blunder  on  for  several  years  in  order  to  pro- 
nounce the  shibboleth  aright.  They  are  under  the  painful  neces- 
sity of  dropping  their  mother  tongue.  We,  on  the  contrary,  give 
ourselves  no  concern  in  regard  to  their  embarrassment  in  at- 
tempting to  comprehend  or  articulate  what  is  so  familiar  to 
ourselves.  If  they  ultimately  succeed  in  gaining  an  imperfect 
command  of  new  words,  it  is  about  all  those  who  constitute  the 
majority  of  Germans,  Danes,  Swedes,  French,  etc.,  achieve. 
Where  enough  of  any  of  them  happen  to  constitute  a  little 
community  of  their  own,  then  they  hardly  give  themselves  any 
anxiety  about  mastering  the  elements  of  English. 

Several  communities  thus  constituted  have  so  multiplied  at 
the  West,  that  their  schools,  and  even  newspapers,  are  conducted 
in  their  native  language.  This  circumstance  has  obliged  legis- 
latures in  several  States  to  publish  their  laws  in  several  lan- 
guages, that  they  may  not  be  in  ignorance  of  the  way  their 
rights  and  privileges  are  maintained  and  secured. 


MOKE  THAN  ONE  LANGUAGE. 

Educational  preparation  for  the  active  scenes  of  life,  for 
which  youth  ought  to  be  qualified,  should  include  a  conversa- 
tional knowledge  of  the  most  important  living  languages. 
French  and  German  have  the  first  claim.  With  these  and 
English,  we  can  hold  intimate  intercourse  with  about  all 
Europe. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  385 

It  is  a  sad  waste  of  precious  hours  of  a  college  student's 
life,  to  be  drilling  years  before  and  after  entering  the  institu- 
tion, in  languages  which  are  dead.  They  are  accomplishments, 
but  not  necessities.  One  is  a  language  that  has  not  been 
spoken  for  nearly  two  thousand  years,  nor  will  it  ever  be 
revived. 

No  objection  is  offered  to  their  perpetuity. 

One  or  two  terms  in  the  course  of  a  college  residence,  de- 
voted to  living  languages, — taught  so  that  they  could  be  spoken 
fluently, — would  be  of  incalculable  importance  to  the  individual 
in  all  the  after  years  of  life.  Latin  and  Greek  are  drilled  into 
boys  for  one  or  two  years  at  a  cost  far  exceeding  the  expense 
of  teachers  of  a  living  language,  to  qualify  them  for  passing 
an  examination  to  become  freshmen.  After  that  crisis  has 
passed,  very  little  does  any  one  care  for  Greek  or  Latin,  unless 
they  are  designed  for  instructors  in  these  departments.  There- 
fore, the  expense  and  time  are  deplorable  losses. 

VALUE  OF  LIVING  LANGUAGES. 

It  is  becoming  a  question  of  interest  among  distinguished 
writers  on  education,  whether  some  revolution  is  not 'required 
in  elementary  preparation  for  the  world  in  which  we  live,  of 
more  value  to  the  pupil  than  Greek  and  Latin  —  would  not 
living  languages  be  more  useful  than  obsolete  ones  ? 

A  finishing  process  in  a  young  lady's  education  is  music 
and  French.  Schools  exist  on  a  reputation  for  polishing  misses 
in  those  two  much-prized  accomplishments.  Not  to  be  sup- 
posed familiar  with  both,  would  be  equivalent  to  being  very 
imperfectly  educated. 

Young  ladies,  presumed  to  have  had  the  best  advantages, 
are  usually  taught  French  by  instructors  who  cannot  articulate 


386  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

a  sentence  that  would  not  shock  a  French  tailor.  Session  after 
session  at  an  expensively  fashionable  boarding-school,  they  are 
supposed  to  acquire  exact  and,  indeed,  intimate  knowledge  of 
idiomatic  French ;  but  not  one  in  fifty  knows  anything  about  it 
beyond  reading  understandingly  to  themselves.  They  cannot 
pronounce  it ;  nor  dare  the  best  of  them  hazard  the  experiment 
in  the  presence  of  a  French  chambermaid  for  fear  of  exciting 
ridicule. 

As  that  language  is  too  generally  taught  in  female  educa- 
tional institutions  throughout  the  country,  it  is  a  lamentable 
loss  of  time  for  pupils.  The  teacher  as  often  as  otherwise  is  a 
lady  not  much  further  advanced  in  the  mysteries  of  accent 

than  those  she  is  drilling. 

• 

WHEKE  TO  LEAEN"  LANGUAGES. 

Foreign  languages  are  taught  in  cities  very  acceptably  by 
those  who  come  from  Europe,  who  speak  their  native  language 
far  better  than  those  who  have  acquired  them  second-hand 
through  professors  who  could  not  make  themselves  understood 
in  a  baker's  shop  in  any  tongue  but  their  own,  were  they  starv- 
ing for  a  slice  of  bread. 

Indulgent  parents  expend  money  freely  for  their  daughters, 
— but  it  is  a  poor  method  of  giving  them  a  conversational  famil- 
iarity with  French, — in  country  boarding-schools. 

Instead  of  keeping  a  young  lady  in  school  for  that  particu- 
lar accomplishment,  French,  German  or  Italian,  place  her  at 
once  in  a  respectable,  cultivated  French  family,  or  with  a  Ger- 
man or  Italian  household. 

For.  example,  place  a  young  miss  in  a  family  at  Montreal  or 
Quebec,  in  which  French  is  spoken  excl  usively.  Or,  if  the  ex- 
pense is  no  object,  send  her  to  France.  No  instruction  would 


THE  WAYS    OF   WOMEN.  387 

be  required,  unless  it  were  particularly  desirable  to  hasten  the 
process.  Simply  being  in  a  family  is  sufficient. 

There  need  be  neither  plodding  in  primary  books,  recita- 
tions or  any  instruction  whatever.  In  an  incredibly  short  time 
her  ears  would  become  familiarized  to  new  sounds.  Children 
are  more  ready  than  adults,  placed  under  such  circumstances, 
in  acquiring  the  meaning  and  accent  of  words. 

"While  boys  are  drudging  at  tasks  in  Greek  and  Latin,  not 
essential,  they  could  have  a  complete  acquaintance  with  two  or 
three  living  languages,  of  infinitely  more  value  to  them. 

In  all  after  periods  of  life  one  or  two  languages  in  addition 
to  their  own  would  be  a  thousand  times  more  important  to 
them  than  a  critical  familiarity  with  the  orations  of  Cicero. 

There  would  be  less  brain  labor  in  this  method  than  imper- 
fectly understanding  ancient  classics,  and  boys  would  be  quali- 
fied for  sustaining  commercial  relations  all  over  the  world, 
while  the  best  Latinist  in  Christendom  could  not  buy  a  paper  of 
pins,  were  he  to  ask  for  them  in  that  scholarly  language. 

FOREIGN  OFFICIALS. 

Our  ambassadors,  consuls,  and  commercial  agents,  sent 
abroad  to  represent  the  dignity  of  this  government,  protect  our 
citizens  and  their  interests,  have  often  been  the  laughing-stock 
of  those  among  whom  they  resided,  on  account  of  their  stupid 
ignorance  of  all  language  but  their  own,  which  they  not  unfre- 
quently  barbarously  murder. 

American  consuls  have  sometimes  been  spoken  of  as  so  illit- 
erate as  to  be  incapable  of  speaking  English  grammatically. 
Their  appointment  have  notulways  been  on  account  of  eminent 
qualifications.  If  it  is  true  political  services  are  ever  paid  for 
in  that  way,  as  compensation  for  aiding  in  the  election  of  a 


388  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

rampant  partisan  to  Congress,  it  is  high  time  the  Civil  Service 
Law  should  be  enforced. 

Government  makes  a  mortifying  mistake  in  ever  commis- 
sioning foreigners  to  consular  stations.  When  the  native  stock 
has  been  exhausted,  there  will  be  a  reasonable  excuse  for  crav- 
ing the  assistance  of  men  who  were  never  on  this  continent  who 
do  not  understand  its  usages  or  laws.  Travelers  cannot  conceal 
their  disgust  at  this  kind  of  patronage.  A  profuse  exhibition 
of  brass  buttons,  with  the  stars  and  stripes  waving  over  empty 
heads  on  the  shoulders  of  official  nobodies,  who  would  not  be 
invited  to  dine  with  a  cobbler  in  any  country,  are  no  credit  to  a 
great  nation  of  freemen. 

Every  consul  should  be  qualified  and  write  the  language  of 
the  country  where  he  is  stationed.  All  the  higher  grades  of 
official  representatives  should  be  educationally  qualified  for 
their  positions.  Ministers  plenipotentiary  at  the  principal 
courts  with  which  we  hold  intimate  diplomatic  relations,  have 
not  been  a  whit  better  qualified  than  their  servants  in  many 
instances.  Clerks  and  attaches  have  transacted  all  business, 
while  the  great  man  takes  the  salary  and  does  the  official  din- 
ing, to  be  laughed  at  behind  his  back. 

• 

TEACHING  FRENCH  AND  GERMAN  IN  SCHOOLS. 

Were  French  and  German  regularly  and  systematically 
taught,  like  other  more  common  but  necessary  studies  in  district 
schools  for  both  sexes,  the  national  character  would  stand  on  a 
higher  level,  whenever  those  who  have  had  educational  advan- 
tages in  them  are  required  to  serve  where  such  languages  are 
spoken. 

Every  faculty  of  the  mind  should  be  cultivated,  and  no  one 
of  them  permitted  to  lie  dormant  in  these  stirring  times,  when 
knowledge  is  power. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  389 

Strange  faces,  new  institutions,  and  new  places,  differing 
from  those  to  which  we  are  accustomed,  make  vivid  impressions 
at  first,  but  they  gradually  become  familiar.  So  it  is  in  respect 
to  a  new  language.  It  sounds  harshly,  and  may  be  difficult  to 
articulate,  is  fearfully  guttural,  or,  perhaps,  worse  to  compre- 
hend, even  under  the  best  facilities  for  instruction ;  but,  as  the 
ear  begins  to  be  less  severely  taxed  in  catching  the  new  vibra- 
tions, difficulties  melt  away. 

When  a  few  words  are  understood,  the  way  is  soon  made 
easier  for  more.  By  and  by  a  sentence  can  be  articulated. 
Before  half  the  anticipated  obstacles  have  been  overcome,  we 
begin  to  chat  readily. 

Germans,  Swedes,  Danes,  Poles,  Frenchmen,  etc.,  who  did 
not  know  a  word  of  English  when  they  landed  in  America,  soon 
acquire  it  sufficiently  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of  business 
and  social  intercourse.  We,  however,  rarely  learn  anything  of 
their  language  in  their  way  of  learning. 

Little  children  are  delightful  assistants  when  a  person  is 
under  lingual  discipline.  They  prattle  away  perpetually,  un- 
hesitatingly, and,  therefore,  give  important  aid  to  a  beginner. 
A  family  in  which  there  are  small  children  should  have  a 
decided  preference  over  one  where  there  are  none,  in  selecting 
a  home,  where  the  main  object  is  to  be  within  the  hearing  of 
the  language  which  it  is  proposed  to  acquire. 

Adults  are  very  reserved,  fearing  to  speak,  lest  they 
should  subject  themselves  to  the  critical  observations  of  those 
who  might  make  merry  over  their  blunders.  They  hesi- 
tate to  ask  questions  when  they  very  much  desire  to  do  so, 
for  fear  of  being  considered  troublesome,  or  particularly 
stupid. 

No  person,  especially  those  quite  young,  could  be  in  a 
family  of  French  or  Germans,  for  example,  six  months,  and  not 


390  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

make  considerable  progress,  without  having  had  a  single  lesson 
given  them. 

Indian  prisoners  at  the  "West,  wandering  about  at  the  mercy 
of  their  savage  captors,  very  soon  begin  to  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  their  uncouth  gutturals,  and  discover  their  views  in 
regard  to  their  cruel  intentions. 

Accuracy  of  expression  could  not  be  expected,  certainly  not 
attained,  without  considerable  practice,  since  perfection  of  articu- 
lation must  result  from  long  practice. 

Children  learn  to  speak  without  instruction.  "What  can  they 
know  of  the  laws  of  syntax  ?  They  lisp  their  crude  thoughts 
with  charming  freedom,  years  before  they  are  taught  the  ele- 
ments of  grammar.  That  appropriately  comes  into  play  as 
they  approach  their  teens. 

LANGUAGE  OF  ANIMALS. 

Dogs  certainly  understand  the  import  of  words,  or  they 
could  not  so  readily  obey  their  masters.  Their  capacity  for 
language  is  far  above  that  of  cats.  Puss  must  see  -a  morsel  of 
meat  or  a  cup  of  milk,  to  gain  her  friendly  attentions.  She 
may  be  frightened,  but  not  with  harsh  expressions,  unless 
accompanied  by  muscular  gesticulations,  when  away  she  runs 
from  impending  danger. 

Dogs,  on  the  contrary,  possess  a  higher  cerebral  develop- 
ment. They  often  acquire  a  general  knowledge  of  two  and 
three  languages,  according  to  their  advantages.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  there  is  any  particular  effort  on  their  part,  or  ambi- 
tion, to  remember  the  exact  sense  of  an  articulate  sound. 

A  repetition  of  words  and  sentences,  as  heard  in  the  family 
where  different  languages  are  habitually  spoken,  ultimately 
fixes  an  impression.  Finally,  they  associate  certain  acts  with 
certain  words  or  commands. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  391 

There  are  dogs  almost  everywhere,  trained  to  carry  and 
bring  letters  from  the  post-office,  visit  the  market  with  a  basket 
for  the  family  dinner,  stand  guard  through  the  night,  and  carry 
notes  at  the  bidding  of  the  proprietor.  They  actually  learn  to 
obey  different  members  of  the  household  who  may  direct  or 
command  them  in  French,  German,  Spanish,  etc.,  as  they  are 
spoken  indifferently  in  the  establishment. 

Not  long  since  a  pet  dog  was  brought  to  New  York  from 
Naples,  whose  intelligence  was  extraordinary.  When  directed 
to  engage  in  certain  performances,  in  Italian,  he  promptly 
obeyed ;  but  when  addressed  in  English,  the  poor  fellow  was 
amazingly  perplexed.  After  a  while  it  was  apparent  he  had 
mastered  the  meaning  of  a  new  language,  to  a  certain  extent, 
which  was  manifested  with  signs  of  gratification. 

Vulgar  dogs,  like  parrots,  gain  a  knowledge  of  a  few  slang 
phrases,  becoming  embarrassed  when  addressed  in  terms  un- 
connected with  towering  expletives.  •  Donkeys  and  mules, 
usually  regarded  as  the  embodiment  of  stupidity,  evince  a 
nice  perception  of  articulate  sounds. 

There  are  many  places  in  Louisiana  where  those  shabbily- 
treated  animals  in  harness  readily  obey  orders  given  in  three 
different  languages,  as  either  happens  to  be  used  by  their 
drivers.  Those  dumb  beasts  prick  up  their  long  ears  in 
surprise,  evidently  indicating  perplexity,  when  a  strange  man 
takes  the  reins,  speaking  a  new  language  to  them. 

Even  oxen,  dull  and  unobserving  as  they  seem  to  be,  listen 
attentively  to  what  is  said  particularly  to  themselves  while  in 
the  yoke.  Haw  and  gee,  equivalent  to  right  and  left,  are  as 
perfectly  understood  by  trained  oxen  as  by  the  teamster.  Back 
is  another  command  which  an  infant  might  pronounce  with 
equal  certainty  of  having  it  executed.  Horses  in  bakers'  carts, 
market  nags,  and  milkmen's  teams,  not  only  know  precisely 


392  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

what  the  driver  bids  them  do,  but  they  also  know  the  exact 
residence  of  customers. 

A  Vermont  farmer  is  reputed  to  have  borrowed  of  a  French 
neighbor,  across  the  line,  the  use  of  an  ox  for  a  day,  to  take 
the  place  of  a  sick  one.  The  stranger  from  Her  Majesty's 
dominion  could  not  respond  to  the  bidding  of  the  Yankee,  be- 
cause he  could  not  understand  him,  although  evincing  a  perfect 
willingness  to  pull  or  turn  as  his  mate  indicated.  "With  the 
best  intentions,  however,  the  unmated  cattle  were  constantly 
committing  blunders,  to  the  dismay  of  the  citizen  of  the  repub- 
lic. Towards  evening,  in  crossing  a  railroad  track  as  a  train 
was  approaching,  they  were  urged  to  make  haste  by  boisterous 
vociferations,  which  quickened  the  speed  of  the  Yermont  ox, 
but  the  other,  not  understanding  the  loud  tones,  gazed  about 
with  glaring  eyes,  in  view  of  impending  destruction,  not  know- 
ing which  way  to  move,  and,  in  that  instant  of  hesitation  and 
doubt,  was  crushed  to  death  by  the  locomotive,  and  thus  died 
dramatically,  in  consequence  of  not  knowing  the  English 
language. 

Address  any  of  the  domesticated  animals,  accustomed  to 
the  sound  of  human  voices,  and  there  is  no  doubt  respecting 
the  fact  that  they  attach  a  meaning  to  what  they  hear,  to  a 
limited  extent.  That  is  particularly  noticeable  in  menageries. 
There  they  become  cognizant  of  the  expressions  of  their 
keepers. 

They  learn  their  ways,  analyze  their  character  for  kindness, 
and  govern  themselves  accordingly.  So  accurately  do  dogs  and 
cats  discriminate  a  good  disposition  from  a  morose,  severe,  un- 
sympathetic person,  that  they  walk  boldly  to  some  for  caresses, 
or  avoid  others  with  marked  exhibitions  of  dislike. 

Seals  gather  a  distinct  meaning  of  words  in  their  captivity, 
with  a  keeper  who  is  regularly  in  attendance.  A  change  of 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  393 

superintendent  leads  to  sorrowful  moanings.  By  speaking 
slowly  and  distinctly  to  them,  their  full,  intelligent  eyes  sparkle 
with  evident  delight. 

Anecdotes,  without  limitation,  are  interspersed  in  works  on 
natural  history,  illustrative  of  the  capacity  of  animals  for 
gathering  a  knowledge  of  words.  Birds  certainly  converse  with 
one  another  when  preparing  for  a  migratory  excursion.  They 
then  congregate  in  multitudes,  and  apparently  deliberate  in 
council.  If  the  chattering  means  anything,  it  would  seem  to 
relate  to  the  proposed  removal  to  another  climate. 

If  they  have  no  intelligence,  and  their  sagacity  is  without 
thought,  the  force  of  instinct  which  compels  them  to  act 
without  the  exercise  of  volition, — how  does  it  happen  that  such 
armies  of  feathered  races  move  with  a  precision,  varying  by 
incidental  circumstances,  as  though  they  had  both  a  present  and 
future  object  in  view  ? 

Parrots  articulate  phrases  they  have  heard,  without  attach- 
ing any  sense  to  them.  Their  power  of  imitating  vocal  sounds  is 
surprising.  When  once  familiarized  to  a  routine  of  expressions, 
they  repeat  them,  but  without  reference  to  their  appropriate- 
ness to  the  occasion.  They  have  not  a  brain  for  carrying  on  a 
train  of  thought.  Mocking-birds  are  extraordinary  imitators. 
They  are  extremely  jolly  and  frolicsome  over  the  confusion 
they  create  among  other  birds.  Dogs  are  far  superior  to  most 
animals,  from  the  circumstance  that  they  retain  cerebral  impres- 
sions, which  are  recalled  for  the  execution  of  after  acts.  A 
Highland  shepherd  bids  his  dog  find  a  missing  sheep.  Away  he 
scampers  in  earnest  search  for  it,  keeping  distinctly  in  mind 
what  is  expected  of  him.  He  never  can  be  taught  to  speak,  be- 
cause he  has  nothing  to  say,  although  he  thinks  accurately  in 
the  line  of  his  special  vocation.  Having  no  sphincter  muscle 
to  the  mouth,  labial  sounds  are  impossible. 


394  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Monkeys  have  a  vocal  apparatus  so  nearly  resembling  our 
own,  that  it  would  puzzle  a  practical  anatomist  to  designate  one 
from  the  other,  if  of  the  same  size,  when  detached  from  the 
body.  They  have  vocal  cords,  well-formed  lips,  and  nerves 
directed  precisely  as  in  the  nervous  system  of  the  most  inveter- 
ate talker,  yet  a  monkey  has  never  been  heard  to  pronounce  a 
syllable.  While  a  whip  is  held  over  his  head,  he  performs  sur- 
prising tricks,  rides  in  a  circus,  goes  through  manual  exercises 
with  a  miniature  gun,  plays  a  tambourine,  collects  pennies,  etc., 
but,  with  all  these  accomplishments,  he  never  voluntarily  prac- 
tises them  when  left  alone.  Neither  does  he  attempt  speaking. 
Their  chattering  is  always  the  same,  whether  expressing 
pleasure  or  pain. 

There  are  remarkable  accounts  of  dogs,  which  fully  demon- 
strate their  reasoning  powers  to  an  extent  bordering  on  the 
marvellous.  Seeing  and  hearing  are  special  senses,  which  are 
exceedingly  developed  in  them,  and  through  which  their  know- 
ledge is  very  accurate.  A  law  of  limitation  puts  a  stop  to 
mental  progress  with  animals,  as  it  does  in  respect  to  their 
growth.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  educate  beyond  a  certain  point, 
because  the  instruments  for  carrying  on  the  operation  of  think- 
ing are  insufficient,  either  in  their  number,  weight,  or  structure. 

By  associating  with  persons  of  mild  manners,  who  pet  and 
praise  them  with  kind  expressions,  some  dogs  make  extraordi- 
nary advances.  Their  canine  exploits  may  be  carried  so  far  as 
to  excite  both  admiration  and  surprise.  Such  performers  exert 
themselves  under  the  stimulus  of  praise,  or  unmistakably  exhibit 
dejection  and  mortification  when  roughly  reprimanded. 

Some  years  ago  a  noble  Newfoundland  dog,  owned  by  the 
city  of  Boston,  was  kept  at  the  quarantine  ground,  Rainsford 
Island,  in  the  capacity  of  a  general  watchman.  Tiger  lived  to 
about  the  age  of  twenty  years.  In  that  long  life-lease,  he  had 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  395 

acquired  a  very  correct  estimate  of  men  and  manners.  He  was 
deferential  to  masters  of  vessels  and  well-dressed  passengers 
when  they  came  on  shore,  but  if  sailors  left  their  boat  to  wander 
over  the  premises,  he  became  demonstrative.  They  had  to  run 
rapidly  back  to  the  landing,  or  feel  the  effects  of  Tiger's  indig- 
nation. 

Such  was  Tiger's  ambition  to  be  in  good  society,  that  he 
was  invariably  on  hand  to  accompany  the  doctor  in  his  barge 
when  visiting  vessels.  On  account  of  his  prodigious  size  and 
imposing  aspect,  he  was  usually  an  object  of  particular  atten- 
tion, and  had  excellent  bits  of  meat  dropped  over  the  gunwale 
into  the  boat,  while  his  master  was  transacting  business  in  the 
cabin. 

So  favorably  impressed  was  that  sagacious  quadruped  with 
the  attentions  he  received  alongside,  he  occasionally  swam  back 
and  made  a  call  on  his  own  account.  On  seeing  him  paddling 
around  the  hull,  if  a  rope  were  thrown  over,  he  held  fast  to  it 
with  mighty  strong  jaws,  and  was  thus  hauled  on  board,  to  the 
immense  gratification  of  the  crew,  and  no  less  gratification  of 
the  visitor.  After  being  feasted  heartily,  and  wagging  his  long, 
bushy  tail  to  those  who  had  bestowed  the  grub,  in  a  twinkling 
of  an  eye  he  would  leap  overboard  and  strike  for  land. 

No  efforts  were  successful  in  coaxing  him  back.  On  several 
occasions  a  plot  was  laid  to  capture  him,  but  watching  an 
opportunity,  as  though  perfectly  understanding  the  convesra- 
tion  respecting  his  detention,  he  gave  the  sailors  the  slip  by 
plunging  into  the  surging  waves,  through  which  he  quickly 
worked  his  way  to  the  nearest  beach. 

In  consequence  of  repeated  exposures  in  aquatic  adventures, 
of  which  he  was  exceedingly  fond,  together  with  the  infirmities 
incident  to  age,  Tiger  suffered  severely  with  earache.  The 
doctor's  lady  used  to  make  hot  poultices,  heat  bricks,  folded  in 


396  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

soft  cloths,  etc.,  and  when  ready,  she  would  tell  him  to  take 
position.  He  would  instantly  horizontalize  himself  under  a 
table,  patiently  submitting  to  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of 
madam's  applications. 

The  transition  from  pain  to  perfect  relief  was  never  for- 
gotten. Whenever  he  had  a  recurrence  of  the  old  torment,  he 
regularly  whined  in  an  ineffable  tone,  and  shook  his  head,  which 
was  an  indication  of  wanting  the  kind  lady's  assistance.  It  was 
a  curious  spectacle  to  witness  his  impatience  for  the  brick  to 
heat.  Bracing  himself  in  a  corner,  he  would  look  steadfastly  at 
the  red-hot  coals  till  it  was  taken  out,  and  his  mistress  an- 
nounced all  ready. 

So  warmly  attached  was  that  sagacious  old  dog  to  his  bene- 
factress, that  he  became  evidently  jealous  of  attentions  shown 
by  persons  who  did  not  come  up  to  his  standard  of  respectability. 
When  she  stepped  from  a  boat  he  invariably  sprang  for  the 
painter,  holding  it  with  tenacity  till  his  friend  was  fairly  on  dry 
ground.  If  one  of  the  bargemen  attempted  to  take  the  rope 
away,  there  was  a  growl  and  show  of  white  teeth,  that  fore- 
shadowed displeasure  at  interfering  with  his  gallantry.  When 
the  lady  was  quite  safely  landed,  then  the  painter  was  dropped, 
and  Mr.  Tiger  trudged  along  by  her  side,  as  though  conscious 
of  having  done  his  duty. 

By  way  of  experiment,  to  ascertain  the  exact  extent  of  that 
splendid  brute's  appreciation  of  language,  on  the  return  of  the 
doctor  from  the  city,  madam  related  to  him  that  during  his 
absence  Tiger  had  not  behaved  well :  he  had  disobeyed  her,  or 
had  been  over  to  the  hospital  and  eaten  up  a  patient's  dinner. 

Such  conversation  seemed  to  produce  profound  sleep,  or  if 
he  saw  that  facial  expressions  were  assuming  an  unfavorable 
change,  he  stole  away  behind  a  piece  of  furniture.  By  tacking 
ship,  however,  and  praising  his  fidelity, — recounting  his  feats 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  397 

and  good  qualities,  the  old  fellow's  organ  of  approbativeness 
brought  him  bolt  to  his  feet.  He  was  delighted  with  flattery, 
and  overwhelmed  his  good  friend  with  affectionate  demonstra- 
tions of  regard. 

A  lady  in  New  York  converses  with  her  Newfoundland  as 
with  one  of  her  servants.  When  she  says  to  him,  "  You  may 
go  with  John  to  market,"  he  capers  frantically  with  anticipa- 
tions of  pleasure,  because  he  is  quite  sure  of  fine  picking  among 
the  stalls  where  he  has  a  host  of  friends.  He  goes  to  the 
kitchen  for  a  basket,  and  returns  with  it  for  money  from  his 
mistress.  He  then  trots  off  with  it  through  densely  crowded 
streets,  safely.  His  vanity  is  his  weakest  point,  putting  him- 
self at  considerable  inconvenience  for  a  compliment. 

These  citations  of  brute  intelligence  are  digressions,  but  they 
belong  to  that  catalogue  of  evidences  which  are  numerous  and 
convincing,  that  animals,  from  canary  birds  to  elephants,  in  the 
society  of  man,  unquestionably  acquire  an  elementary  know- 
ledge of  the  true  meaning  of  words. 

How  absurd  then  to  pretend  that  a  human  being,  with  a 
great  brain,  superior  in  volume  to  that  of  all  races  below  him, 
cannot  master  more  than  one  language,  while  donkeys,  mules, 
horses,  dogs,  elephants,  oxen,  seals,  and  even  mice  and  canary 
birds,  gather  an  elementary  knowledge  of  two  or  three,  without 
being  able  to  articulate  any ! 

SYSTEMATIC  PERSEVERANCE. 

By  a  very  moderate  amount  of  systematic  industry,  perse- 
veringly  continued  at  leisure  moments,  any  woman  may  attain 
a  speaking  knowledge  of  one  or  two  languages  in  addition  to 
her  own  vernacular. 

"William  Cobbett,  alone,  without  an  instructor,  became  a 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

critical  French  scholar.  He  even  wrote  an  excellent  grammar 
of  the  language,  still  in  repute.  Dr.  Franklin  acquired  French 
when  he  was  about  seventy  years  old,  which  shows  what  may  be 
achieved  where  there  is  a  will.  Such  are  encouraging  examples, 
showing,  beyond  question,  that  it  is  never  too  late  to  learn. 

Rev.  Mr.  Jones,  chaplain  of  the  Sailor's  Snug  Harbor,  stated 
in  a  public  meeting,  in  New  York,  that  in  a  company  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  seamen,  at  his  house,  they  spoke  among 
them  thirty-seven  languages  fluently.  Several  conversed  freely 
in  four ;  one  «r  two  in  five;  and  one,  a  native  of  Finland,  spoke 
ten,  and  wrote  seven  of  them  correctly, — one  being  Latin. 

Du  Chaillu,  the  African  traveller,  stated  before  the  Geo- 
graphical Society  of  New  York,  giving  an  account  of  his  wan- 
dering in  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Finland,  that  there 
is  not  a  girl  in  those  countries  sixteen  years  old,  even  in  the  re- 
motest cabins  of  Lapland,  who  could  not  converse  readily  in 
English,  French,  and  German,  besides  their  own  severely  harsh 
dialect. 

That  statement  made  a  deep  impression  on  a  highly  culti- 
vated audience.  The  whole  mystery  of  such  proficiency  was 
explained.  Every  school,  from  the  primary  to  the  highest,  in 
those  countries,  is  by  law  obliged  to  teach  children  three  neces- 
sary languages,  the  government  having  the  good  sense  to  ap- 
preciate the  value  of  the  principal  languages  of  civilized  coun- 
tries, the  knowledge  of  which  qualifies  the  people  to  transact 
business  with  the  ruling  nations  of  the  earth. 

There  is  no  labored  effort  on  the  part  of  the  children,  no 
extraordinary  exertion  by  the  teachers,  to  bring  about  such 
proud  results.  It  is  simply  a  gradual  process  like  any  other 
study  deemed  useful  for  youth.  Really,  no  child  is  conscious 
of  any  particular  effort,  but,  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  insen- 
sibly become  accomplished  linguists. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  399 

Just  such  a  system  should  be  pursued  in  all  common  schools 
in  this  country.  It  would  be  attended  with  no  more  expense 
than  at  present,  with  arithmetic,  grammar,  and  other  element- 
ary branches.  Every  little  girl  and  boy,  beginning  with  their 
A,  B,  07  might  speak  and  read  French,  German,  and  English  in 
the  same  time  they  are  acquiring  any  and  all  of  those  things 
which  make  up  a  common  school  education. 

Let  this  admirable  course  be  adopted,  and  in  twenty  years 
we  should  outgrow  the  taunt  flung  in  the  faces  of  American 
scholars,  that  we  are  a  one-tongued  people. 

Law  and  medical  students,  theological  also  ;  clerks,  and  in- 
deed others  associated  with  commercial,  banking,  and  various 
kinds  of  activities  requiring  skill,  tact,  and  accomplishments,  too, 
in  their  pursuits,  have  no  apology  for  being  so  universally  ig- 
norant of  foreign  languages. 

By  subjecting  themselves  to  a  few  inconveniences,  and 
taking  up  a  residence  in  families  where  a  language  is  exclusively 
spoken  which  they  wish  to  acquire,  medical,  law,  theological 
students,  and  clerks,  might  soon  speak  another  language  with- 
out infringing  upon  business  hours  or  cost  of  tuition. 

The  same  course  would  accomplish  any  young  lady,  if  not 
in  a  condition  to  pursue  the  other  plan  proposed,  by  going  to 
Canada  or  France. 


EXAMPLES  or  SUCCESS. 

Let  the  organs  of  hearing  be  educated.  That  is  the  all-im- 
portant beginning. 

A  ]STew  York  lady  practising  upon  this  system  of  keeping 
the  ear  familiarized  with  French,  Spanish,  Italian,  German,  and 
Portuguese,  has  a  servant  representing  each  language,  for  the 
sake  of  being  obliged  to  converse  with  each  one  in  his  or  her  own 


400  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

language.  Her  house,  therefore,  is  a  modern  Babel,  the  mistress 
being  a  ready  interpreter  in  many  dialects. 

A  gentleman  went  to  France  a  short  time  since  with  an 
accomplished  daughter  of  whom  he  was  exceedingly  proud.  As 
the  vessel  was  entering  the  port  of  Havre,  a  passenger  asked 
the  father  of  the  young  lady  if  he  intended  to  take  a  courier 
into  service  on  landing. 

"  No,  sir,"  he  replied.  "  My  daughter  has  been  expensively 
educated  in  French.  She  understands  it  like  a  book,  and  I 
intend  she  shall  be  my  interpreter  on  our  travels." 

Yery  soon  after  this  conversation  a  pilot  and  revenue  officer 
came  on  board.  Marching  up  to  the  American  millionaire, — 
sputtering  at  a  rapid  rate, — he  quite  confounded  the  old  gen- 
tleman with  his  volubility.  Turning  towards  the  blooming 
daughter,  "  Find  out,"  said  he,  "  what  these  fellows  want." 

She  was  respectfully  approached  by  the  new  comers,  who 
stated  their  object  in  choice  French,  but  to  her  inexpressible 
confusion,  she  could  not  understand  a  single  word.  The  father's 
mortification  could  not  be  concealed.  He  had  boasted  so  much 
of  her  acquirements,  and  the  money  lavished  on  her  French 
education  in  one  of  the  most  expensive  boarding-schools,  both 
exhibited  fallen  crests,  as  most  of  the  passengers  were  expecting 
very  gratifying  assistance  from  that  source. 

The  young  lady  had  a  thorough  reading  knowledge  of 
French,  far  superior,  no  doubt,  to  those  who  had  unwittingly 
brought  her  into  such  a  mortifying  dilemma.  But  her  ear  had 
been  neglected,  as  it  always  is  in  those  fashionable  institutions. 

Had  she  been  placed  in  any  French  family  ten  months  as  a 
mere  boarder,  without  taking  a  single  lesson,  and  in  no  way 
interfering  with  other  essential  studies  or  social  relations,  she 
would  have  spoken  French  conversationally  with  ease  and 
fluency. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  401 

AVENUES  TO  INDUSTRY. 

A  man  who  speaks  two  languages,  says  a  proverb,  is  equal 
to  two  men,  and  a  woman  who  can  do  it  is  equal  to  half  a 
dozen. 

New  routes  to  useful  pursuits  are  laid  open  by  the  aid  of  a 
second  language.  It  is  an  extra  key  for  unlocking  a  cabinet  of 
treasures. 

Young  persons  should  be  ambitious  to  possess  that  advan- 
tage. Population  is  rapidly  increasing,  consequently  the  strife 
for  place  and  position  is  becoming  more  active.  Without  a 
speaking  acquaintance  with  at  least  one  more  language  in  addi- 
to  her  own,  a  young  lady  is  not  equal  to  the  responsibilities  of 
positions  she  might  desire  to  occupy. 

Telegraphic  interests  in  the  future  will  require  linguists, 
and  so  will  mercantile  houses,  banks,  and  insurance  offices,  far 
beyond  what  may  have  been  anticipated.  Such  operators  will 
be  in  request,  so  extended  are  the  enterprises  of  nations  since 
the  utilization  of  steam  and  electricity. 

Young  women  would  be  admirable  at  the  wires,  and  a  hope 
is  entertained  they  may  have  almost  a  monopoly  of  telegraph 
stations.  Therefore,  let  them  seasonably  qualify  themselves  for 
those  useful,  appropriate,  and  remunerative  services. 

Drive  the  pale,  thin,  feminine-looking  clerks  out  of  easy- 
chairs  in  banks,  insurance  offices,  treasuries,  public  bureaus, 
where  honesty  and  faithfulness  are  the  first  requisite  qualifica- 
tion, to  cultivate  the  soil.  It  would  be  doing  them  a  personal 
kindness.  In  becoming  strong,  hardy,  brave,  and  enterprising 
in  the  field,  food  would  be  cheaper,  and  the  race  improve 
physically,  morally,  and  mentally. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
IN"  THE  PKOPESSIOKS. 


Not  Forcible  Public  Speakers  before  Large  Audiences  —  Physical  Reason  — 
Make  Good  Professors—  Female  Physicians  a  Success—  Admirable  Artists 
—Approved  Teachers  of  Various  Branches  of  Education—  Should  be 
Encouraged. 

SOME  women,   unfortunately  for  themselves,   assume  un- 

1   natural  positions.     In  a  pulpit  they  appear  out  of  place.     They 

1   may  become  learned  theologians,   write  with  fervor,  but  in 

\  standing  before   an  audience,  however  animated  by  zeal,   or 

j  eminent  in  qualifications,  their  vocal  powers  are  not  equal  to 

.such  occasions. 

The  larynx  is  smaller  than  in  men;  therefore  there  is  a 
physical  inability  for  giving  strength  to  the  voice  required  for 
being  distinctly  heard  in  large  halls  or  churches,  the  timbre  not 
being  of  the  quality  for  ringing  through  great  assemblies. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  singing  and  speaking. 
The  first  is  appreciable  as  a  musical  tone  in  them,  heard  dis- 
tinctly and  widely  ;  but  when  they  attempt  giving  sonorous 
weight  to  the  voice,  in  the  manner  of  commanding  orators,  the 
failure  is  apparent. 

The  cartilages  of  the  vocal  box  remain  flexible  in  females 
through  life.  In  men,  on  the  contrary,  when  they  arrive  at 
puberty,  they  become  bony,  and  the  voice  changes  from  the  vox 
rauca  of  a  boy  to  a  manly  timbre. 

By  that  organic  alteration  in  the  plates  of  the  larynx,  there 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  403 

is  a  vibratory  impulse  given  to  the  vocal  current,  set  in  motion 
by  the  vocal  cords,  more  intense  than  before.  No  such  change 
takes  place  in  the  female  larynx. 

Again,  the  nasal  cavities,  the  frontal  and  maxillary  sinuses 
are  far  more  developed  in  men  than  women.  They  are  to  the 
voice  what  the  body  of  a  bass  viol  is  to  the  strings — as  proven 
by  an  inflammation  which  closes  them.  A  vulgar  explanation 
of  an  alteration  of  voice  is  imputed  to  speaking  through  the 
nose,  in  case  of  a  severe  cold,  whereas  a  true  state  of  the  case 
is,  that  they  do  not  have  the  assistance  of  the  nose  in  giving 
volume  and  distinctness  to  articulate  sounds. 


ADAM'S  APPLE. 

Within  the  protuberance  in  front  of  the  throat,  midway  be- 
tween the  chin  and  root  of  the  neck,  is  a  triangular  box,  in 
which  ribbon-like  cords  are  stretched  from  wall  to  wall,  that 
vibrate  by  the  rush  of  air,  inhaled  or  expired,  passing  over  their 
tense  edges. 

Before  puberty  the  voice  of  boys  is  like  that  of  females.  They 
are  employed  in  church  choirs,  while  thus  stationary  in  their 
vocal  apparatus.  On  emerging  from  that  state  into  perfect 
manhood,  a  change  of  voice  announces  what  has  taken  place. 
The  female  voice,  however,  remains  always  the  same,  since  an 
evolution  from  girlhood  to  womanhood  brings  no  parallel 
alteration  in  the  larynx  or  nasal  cavities.  That  organ  neither 
enlarges  nor  ossifies. 

Neither  sinuses  or  nasal  cavities  are  ever  as  large  in  females 
as  in  men. 

A  natural  conformation,  therefore,  in  the  vocal  mechanism 
of  the  throat  disqualifies  females  for  producing  a  strong, 
sonorous  sound. 


4:04:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

There  are  exceptional  cases,  in  which  some  women  are  so 
masculine  in  manner,  voice,  and  acts,  as  to  destroy  those  attri- 
butes which  make  them  attractive,  and  their  society  sought  for 
their  refining  influences  and  loveliness. 

At  the  bar,  before  juries,  in  halls  of  legislation,  or,  indeed, 
in  large  bodies,  they  could  not  compete  with  the  deep,  loud- 
sounding  voice  of  a  man  in  the  meridian  of  his  muscular 
power. 

By  emasculation  before  puberty,  the  larynx  remains  station- 
ary. Its  cartilaginous  walls  are  ever  after  flexible  as  in  females. 
Eunuchs,  therefore,  are  employed  in  harems  of  the  East  as 
female  guardians  ;  in  choirs  also,  as  singers,  where  women  are 
not  admissible.  If  emasculation  is  not  performed  till  after 
puberty,  the  system  being  developed  to  its  maximum  of 
completeness,  the  voice  remains  at  the  timbre  it  had  when  it 
altered  from  the  vox  rauca. 


PKOFESSORIAL  DUTIES. 

As  professors  of  departments  in  public  institutions,  colleges, 
seminaries  of  any  order,  where  science  or  literature  is  taught, 
no  great  lung-force  being  required,  females  would  be  abun- 
dantly able  to  sustain  such  honorable  positions.  Demonstra- 
tions and  illustrations  would  be  within  their  scope.  They  could 
discharge  all  such  duties  with  as  much  success,  eclat,  and  appro- 
priateness as  men,  and  far  more  acceptably  and  clearly  than 
many  stupid  male  professors,  who  are  kept  in  such  institutions 
through  the  influence  of  interested  relatives. 

Yery  many  institutions  of  learning  in  this  fair  country  are 
languishing.  Their  perpetual  cry  is  for  money.  They  annoy 
legislatures  for  pecuniary  assistance.  When  it  is  obtained,  it  does 
not  accomplish  the  great  rescusitating  results  which  were  theo- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  405 

reticallj  promised.  The  real  secret  of  their  feebleness  is  in 
the  faculty,  oftener  than  otherwise,  who  have  neither  tact, 
brains,  nor  qualifications  for  the  chairs  into  which  they  were 
inducted. 

Of  all  professions,  however,  that  in  which  women  succeed 
best,  is  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  They  have  made  the  dis- 
covery themselves,  that  they  possess  aptitude  for  managing  the 
sick.  The  public,  too,  in  this  government,  and  in  many  of  the 
most  polished  and  advanced  governments  of  Europe,  accept  the 
proposition  that  they  make  excellent  and  eminently  successful 
physicians. 

Medical  colleges  have  been  chartered,  in  all  directions,  for 
the  special  purpose  of  qualifying  them,  scientifically,  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  responsibilities  of  that  important  pro- 
fession. 

A  standing  army  of  medical  men  have  opposed  the  move- 
ment. They  have  thrown  every  imaginable  obstacle  in  the 
way.  Not  only  have  they  refused  to  admit  them  as  pupils 
into  schools  of  medicine,  but  they  have  denounced  and  ridiculed 
those  who  have  expressed  sympathy  for  them  in  their  desire  to 
be  medically  educated. 

That  old  saying,  "  that  the  blood  of  the  martyr  is  the  seed 
of  the  church,"  is  particularly  applicable  in  regard  to  female 
physicians.  Intensified  opposition  has  created  college  after 
college  expressly  for  their  benefit,  and  more  will  be  chartered 
and  they  will  multiply.  Some  institutions  abroad  have  been 
compelled  by  mandates  of  rulers  to  open  their  doors  to  them, 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  remonstrances  of  medical  practi- 
tioners. 

Probably  there  will  be  as  many  female  medical  students 
in  the  United  States  as  male  students,  within  the  next  fifty 
years. 


406  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

FEMALE  PHYSICIANS. 

Communities  have  to  be  educated  for  the  reception  of 
whatever  is  useful.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  convince  the 
public  that  improvements  are  not  innovations.  The  idea  of  a 
female  physician  was  a  novelty  at  first,  and  so  strange  too,  as 
none  but  men  were  practitioners  of  medicine,  it  looked  like 
overturning  the  constitutions  of  society  when  women  were 
feeling  pulses. 

But  we  become  accustomed  to  revolutions.  The  novelty 
wore  off,  and  next  it  was  ascertained  that  their  manner  of  inter- 
course with  invalids,  the  delicacy  of  their  approach,  the  care- 
fulness with  which  investigations  were  conducted,  the  accuracy 
of  their  analysis  of  symptoms,  and  their  judgment  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  remedies,  inspired  confidence. 

At  once  their  own  sex  gave  them  a  preference  over  many 
rough,  burly,  indifferent  practitioners,  whose  attainments  were 
far  below  the  qualifications  of  those  female  physicians  who 
have  been  thoroughly  instructed  in  well  conducted  medical 
institutions. 

Emigrant  ships  would  immensely  improve  the  condition  of 
steerage  passengers,  by  having  a  female  physician  permanently 
attached  to  the  vessel.  Female  passengers  need  one  of  their  own 
sex,  qualified  to  prescribe  for  them  and  their  children,  and  to 
give  them  council.  It  would  insure  order,  neatness,  morality, 
and  better  health  in  those  crowded  collections  of  men  and 
women  across  the  ocean,  were  this  suggestion  accepted.  It  is 
an  advance  in  propriety  and  the  comfort  of  poor,  neglected 
occupants  of  the  steerage,  that  is  bound  to  be  inaugurated,  and 
soon  too. 

That  partition-wall  has  given  way,  which  prevented  the 
advance  of  enterprise  in  law,  medicine,  and  theology.  Those 


THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN.  40  T 

professions  are  now  open  for  all  who  are  qualified  to  sustain 
themselves  in  them. 

Women,  in  being  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  medical 
practitioners,  have  wisely  let  surgery  alone.  Their  gentleness 
would  be  out  of  place  where  living  flesh  is  to  be  cut  with  sharp 
instruments,  even  when  the  object  is  saving  life.  Blood  is  not 
a  sight  for  their  eyes.  Let  them  keep  within  the  boundaries 
which  instinct  directs,  and  their  professional  ministrations  will 
be  appreciated. 

Physiology  explains  the  gradual  unfolding  of  the  organic 
system,  the  function  of  nutrition,  the  phenomena  of  locomo- 
tion, vision,  audition,  and  the  laws  of  reproduction.  Female 
medical  students  as  fully  comprehend  difficult  problems  as 
young  gentlemen.  Indeed,  they  are  ordinarily  closer  appli- 
cants, thus  laying  a  broad  foundation  for  pathological  success 
in  their  intercourse  with  the  sick. 

Either  from  a  desire  for  distinction,  hallucination,  or  an  ab- 
normal craving  for  notoriety,  some  women  exhibit  a  perverted 
taste,  and  a  feeble  judgment,  when  they  force  themselves  into 
positions  which  excite  ridicule  or  contempt. 

Engaged  in  pursuits  within  their  appropriate  sphere,  their 
success  is  almost  certain.  Both  honor  and  profit  should  accrue 
to  them  for  whatever  they  do,  in  the  same  way  that  men  are 
compensated  for  analogous  services. 

Women  make  excellent  physicians  where  their  advantages 
for  instruction  have  been  full  and  complete.  They  are  miser- 
able quacks. 

In  indemnifying  themselves  with  deceptions,  whether  as  the 
seventh  daughter  of  a  seventh  daughter,  a  clairvoyant,  a  spiritual 
medium,  a  magnetic  prescriber,  who,  with  closed  eyes,  pretends 
to  see  through  an  opaque  body  and  detect  obstructions  in  gland- 
ular ducts,  and  such  like  nonsense, — they  fall  below  contempt. 


408  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

They  are  admirable  artists,  but  uniformly  fail  as  quack 
doctresses.  Only  the  partially  ignorant  presume  to  practise 
without  qualifications.  "When  .  educated,  they  are  above 
trickery.  Honorable  professional  industry  gives  no  countenance 
to  hobgoblins  or  mesmeric  nonsense, — instrumentalities  of  the 
blind  for  leading  the  blind. 

Natural  philosophy,  intimately  incorporated  with  the  study 
of  medicine,  is  an  antagonist  to  superstition.  Those  who  for- 
merly could  discern  ghosts,  and  were  uncompromising  believers 
in  the  manifestations  of  disembodied  souls  in  mystic  circles, 
can  see  nothing  after  becoming  familiar  with  the  principles  of 
general  science. 

So-called  medical  mediums  are  impostors.  They  do  not 
emanate  from  accredited  medical  institutions.  They  are  not 
to  be  confounded  with  those  ladies  who  have  been  carefully 
and  scientifically  instructed  by  competent  teachers  in  all  the 
intricacies  of  theoretical  and  practical  medicine. 

Many  medical  gentlemen,  standing  well  in  communities, 
would  run  a  mortifying  tilt  with  many  ladies  in  an  examina- 
tion before  an  authorized  board  of  censors,  whose  decision  should 
depend  on  the  accuracy  of  their  answers. 

APPOINTMENT  OF  MEDICAL  TEAOHEES. 

Were  it  customary  here  to  elect  professors  by  concours,  as 
in  France,  and  young  ladies  recently  graduated  were  permitted 
to  be  competitors,  quite  a  number  of  stupid  occupants  of  uni- 
versity chairs,  obtained  through  family  assistance  or  the  potency 
of  cash,  would  have  to  give  way  to  higher  attainments. 

In  the  treatment  of  female  maladies,  women  are  the  proper 
professional  advisers.  It  is  grossly  unjust  to  assert  that  they 
have  no  comprehensive  views  or  therapeutic  knowledge  beyond 
making  water  gruel  and  flaxseed  poultices. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  409 

In  lecture-rooms,  wherever  they  have  been  admitted,  their 
progress  has  invariably  been  equal  in  all  respects  to  that  of 
young  men.  The  latter  dissipate  more  or  less, — smoke,  drink 
to  their  detriment,  ramble  to  places  of  amusement,  or  where 
there  is  excitement  at  evening.  Female  medical  students  are 
not  guilty  of  any  such  sins,  if  sins  they  are.  They  economize 
time  in  thought  and  study.  Better  still,  they  neither  chew, 
smoke  tobacco,  or  stultify  themselves  with  the  curse  of  the 
United  States, — whiskey. 

Operative  surgery  is  not  their  forte.  Exact  familiarity  with 
the  intricacies  of  surgical  anatomy,  however,  is  one  of  the 
studies  in  which  female  medical  students  sometimes  excel. 
They  pursue  anatomy  with  earnestness,  so  that  they  occasion- 
ally become  experts. 

If  they  have  not  the  requisite  firmness  or  coolness  for 
cutting  down  into  a  region  of  vessels  and  nerves,  nor  a  strength 
of  arm  for  reducing  luxations,  they  are  quite  well  qualified  to 
determine  the  extent,  gravity,  and  probable  extent  of  injuries. 

As  oculists  and  aurists,  they  might  achieve  great  distinc- 
tion. Ophthalmic  operations  are  neither  bloody,  very  painful, 
or  attended  with  hazard  to  life.  With  their  natural  delicacy 
of  touch  and  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  structure  of  the 
eye,  they  might  cure  deafness  and  extract  cataracts  just  as  skil- 
fully as  operators  of  the  other  gender.  The  first  competent 
female  oculist  who  commences  under  favorable  auspices,  could 
not  fail  of  success, — if  the  accumulation  of  a  fortune  were  the 
evidence  of  it. 

This  suggestion  is  for  their  consideration.  They  must  ex- 
pect to  encounter  opposition ;  be  misrepresented  and  abused, 
because  it  will  be  a  novel  interference  with  the  imagined  pre- 
rogatives of  those  specialists.  It  is  always  far  more  remuner- 
ative than  ordinary  general  practice. 


410  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

"Why  could  not  women  become  expert  dentists  also  ? 

Their  tact  in  watchwork,  the  manufacture  of  rich  jewellery, 
penmaking,  and  some  other  artistic  employments  with  which 
they  are  identified,  besides  modelling,  designing,  painting,  and 
engraving,  in  each  and  all  of  which  they  succeed  admirably,  in- 
sure equal  success  in  the  practice  of  dentistry.  Filling  carious 
teeth,  inserting  artificial  ones,  taking  casts  of  gums,  restoring 
cleft  palates  by  the  insertion  of  metallic  plates,  etc.,  are  all 
within  the  sphere  of  their  genius. 

Certainly  women  draw,  etch,  color,  conduct  photographic 
and  lithographic  establishments ;  and  what  is  to  prevent  them 
from  extending  the  area  of  honest  enterprise  ?  In  each  and  all 
of  those  callings  they  could  earn,  legitimately,  quite  as  much  as 
men,  and  what  is  to  prevent  them  from  being  equally  well 
compensated  ? 

MENTAL  ACTIVITY. 

Great  undertakings  are  not  accomplished  by  main  strength. 
Brain  force  is  that  specific  power  wielded  by  orators,  influential 
divines,  brilliant  commanders,  revolutionizing  writers,  disturb- 
ing politicians,  great  property-gatherers,  bold  projectors,  and  by 
all  those  men  and  women  who  leave  ineffaceable  memorials  of 
their  existence  in  the  archives  of  history. 

Neither  legislative  enactments,  denunciations  from  the 
pulpit,  the  bitterness  of  reviewers,  the  decisions  of  unjust 
judges,  or  the  giant  strength  of  money,  can  stay  the  march  of 
genius.  It  is  stronger  than  all  mechanical  powers  combined. 
Genius  is  not  boisterous  or  presumptuous.  It  is  a  quiet  faculty. 
Pretenders  are  both  positive  and  superficial.  The  records  of 
history  and  the  experience  of  mankind  prove  that  women,  in 
capacity,  originality,  diligence,  thoroughness,  skill,  and  intel- 
lectual acumen,  are  capable  of  accomplishing  in  art,  science, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

and  literature,  whatever  men  do  under  precisely  analogous  cir- 
cumstances. They  are  therefore  entitled  to  the  privilege  of 
embarking  on  the  sea  of  enterprise. 

Men  who  are  rated  vastly  beyond  their  merits,  harnessed 
in  petticoats,  laced  in  stays,  half-clad  in  gossamer  garments, 
corded  round  the  waist,  and  dieted  on  dry  toast  and  tea, 
restrained  by  arbitrary  custom  to  the  house  eleven  hours  in 
twelve,  breathing  impure  air,  instead  of  refreshing,  vitalized 
currents  out  of  door,  mounted  on  high  heels,  and  every  hair  on 
their  heads  put  upon  a  stretch,  and  held  back  by  iron  pins  and 
combSj — suddenly  called,  would  they  appear  to  any  better  advan- 
tage than  their  mothers,  wives,  and  sisters  ? 

PUBLIC  OPINION  A  EESTKAINT. 

Women  are  cruelly  hampered  and  restrained  by  the  fear  of 
what  may  be  said  of  them,  so  that  physically  and  intellectually, 
they  appear  to  disadvantage. 

There  are  some  generous  enough  to  admit  that  women  have 
natural  rights  of  which  they  have  been  defrauded  by  law- 
makers. With  the  progress  of  liberal  sentiments,  a  gratifying 
feature  of  modern  civilization,  concessions  are  gradually  being 
made  to  them.  A  restoration  of  rights  and  privileges  must  be 
made. 

Theoretically — and  it  is  a  legal  fiction — a  man  and  wife  are 
one;  "but  the  husband  is  the  one"  said  a  female  orator  on  a 
notable  occasion. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
MARKIAGE. 

Excuses  of  Husbands — Marriage — Purchase  of  Belief — Helpmate — Moral  Re- 
flections— Happiness  in  Children — Life  Expectation — Womanly  Affec- 
tion— Probabilities  of  Life — Excess  of  Female  Population. 

THE  great  event  in  a  woman's  life  is  marriage.  They 
reckon  from  the  epoch  of  their  marriage  as  a  point  of  de- 
parture. It  is  the  first  milestone  on  the  highway  of  domestic 
relations  which  outranks  and  overtops  all  other  circumstances 
in  their  earthly  pilgrimage. 

They  begin  to  think  of  it  early,  without  having  any  very 
definite  views  of  the  responsibility  that  belongs  to  that  solemn 
connection. 

Universal  attention  is  given  to  the  subject  in  all  countries, 
yet  only  a  few  of  the  many  marry  precisely  to  their  liking. 

Were  it  possible  to  obtain  a  true  and  exact  knowledge  of 
the  amount  of  domestic  happiness  appertaining  to  that  state, 
wedlock  would  make  some  strange  revelations. 

Very  excellent  ladies,  model  women  in  their  matrimonial 
relations,  are  often  wearing  a  mask  to  conceal  a  cancer  gnawing 
at  their  heart. 

They  are  compelled  to  be  hypocrites  to  the  end,  because 
respectability  is  everything.  To  assume  the  appearance  of 
happiness,  prevents  the  mortifying  comments  of  those  in  whose 
estimation  it  is  an  object  to  stand  well. 

Merchants,  bankers,  and,  indeed,  most  men  in  active  busi- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  413 

ness  who  give  employment  to  young  men,  keep  them  at  an 
unwarrantable  distance.  The  civility  of  inviting  them  to  their 
own  houses,  and  giving  them  the  acquaintance  of  their  pleasant 
families,  rarely  occurs,  however  much  their  clerks  may  have 
merited  their  esteem.  Some  become  dissipated  from  having  no 
respectable  places  to  visit, — none  to  give  them  an  encouraging 
recognition. 

How  many  such  neglected  counting-room  drudges  become 
the  leading  men  of  the  day,  eventually  taking  a  flight  entirely 
beyond  the  narrow  circle  from  which  their  patrons  excluded 
them  !  Splendid  husbands  might  have  been  discovered  in  such 
neglected  worth,  by  attachments  formed  between  lovely  young 
ladies  and  poor  but  deserving  young  men.  The  policy  of 
allowing  those  with  nothing  for  a  capital  but  unsullied  honor 
and  enterprise,  to  address  a  rich  man's  daughters,  by  no  means 
has  the  approval  of  a  managing  mother.  Her  ambition  is  to 
engineer  her  angels  into  favor  with  those  reputed  to  be  worth 
the  most. 

Neither  heart  nor  principle  is  involved  in  the  speculation, 
as  matrimonial  adventures  are  now  conducted  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic.  "Women  are  notoriously  bought  or  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Love  is  not  in  the  bargain.  The  purchaser 
obtains  a  fool  with  her  dot,  and  she  a  rake  who  wishes  her 
under  ground  after  getting  control  of  the  funds.  Those  are 
the  matches  ending  in  divorce. 

Were  young  ladies  satisfied  with  the  attentions  of  virtuous, 
unpretending  young  men,  whose  only  fault  is  their  poverty, 
what  gems  they  would  often  secure !  General  Washington 
offered  himself  to  a  lady  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached, 
but  had  the  mortification  of  being  rejected  by  the  haughty 
heiress,  because  he  was  only  a  major  without  property. 
She  afterwards  stood  at  a  window,  in  the  city  of  Balti- 


414:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

more,  as  that  spurned  lover  passed  through  the  street,  lined 
on  either  side  by  immense  multitudes  with  uncovered  heads, 
— President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  saviour 
of  his  country,  whose  name  and  fame  will  live  till  time  shall 
be  no  more.  She  swooned,  and  was  removed  from  the  apart- 
ment. 

In  marital  relations,  women  carry  the  heaviest  end  of  the 
beam.  They  are  too  much  burdened  in  the  middle  walks  of 
life  with  cares,  and  consequently  they  suffer  more  than  men  in 
family  responsibilities,  especially  when  uncongenially  united. 

EXCUSES  or  BAD  HUSBANDS. 

Husbands  absent  themselves  from  disagreeable  homes  on  a 
plea  of  business,  when  an  apology  is  necessary.  Frivolous  pre- 
tences are  always  to  be  found  for  absence  without  exciting  par- 
ticular remark  that  might  essentially  affect  their  moral  standing 
in  society,  were  the  exact  facts  of  the  case  known. 

Their  wives,  however  badly  treated  or  neglected,  cannot 
flee  so  readily  from  the  presence  of  one  who  abuses  them, 
without  raising  a  whirlwind  of  ungenerous  surmises  injurious 
to  their  reputation. 

No  true  woman  likes  to  face  a  tornado  of  scandal.  Men 
and  women  must  associate.  It  was  so  designed  from  the  begin- 
ning. Monastic  institutions,  which  interdict  matrimony,  are  at 
war  with  nature.  It  is  unnatural  and  opposed  to  a  fundamental 
law  of  life. 

A  society  which  forbids  the  association  of  males  and  fe- 
males on  a  basis  contemplated  in  this  proposition,  cannot  main- 
tain such  a  system  of  discipline  without  exercising  a  vigilance 
perfectly  despotic. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  415 

SHAKER  CELIBACY. 

The  Shakers  have  probably  carried  the  experiment  as  far  as 
any  anomalous  religious  sect,  and  as  successfully  too,  so  far  as 
complete  non-intercourse  is  essential  in  their  creed.  They 
make  but  few  converts,  and  the  sect  would  soon  be  extinct  were 
it  not  for  the  children  they  gather  among  sinners. 

Their  organization  is  recruited  from  sources  they  absolutely 
condemn  as  sinful. 

With  their  wealth,  their  beautifully  cultivated  farms,  model 
gardens,  well-finished  brooms,  medicinal  herbs,  carefully  packed 
seeds,  apple-sauce,  and  some  other  manufactures,  their  societies 
may  be  held  together  through  one  or  two  more  generations. 
Thus  all  religious  monastic  associations  are  sustained — in  op- 
position to  a  law  of  nature. 

There  must  be,  inevitably,  a  last  day  in  their  calendar.  A 
dissolution  will  come,  because  they  are  opposed  to  a  law  of  God, 
on  which  the  perpetuity  of  races  depends.  It  can  neither  be 
modified  nor  repealed  by  human  effort.  Let  the  Shaker  doc- 
trines be  fully  sustained,  and  the  beautiful  earth  in  two  hun- 
dred years  would  not  have  one  human  being  on  its  surface. 

Institutions  antagonistic  to  laws  governing  our  physical  or- 
ganization, cannot  be  sustained.  There  may  be  a  temporary 
show  of  resistance,  and  a  pride  in  pretending  that  extraordinary 
exaltation  of  mind  is  attained  by  subordinating  all  emotions, 
passions,  and  instincts  to  the  empire  of  reason,  but  nature 
triumphs  at  last. 

Religious  enthusiasts  are  prone  to  announce  theories  which 
they  proclaim  to  be  decidedly  gratifying  to  the  Creator.  Can 
it  be  a  pleasure  to  that  ever-living  Power,  that  has  fashioned 
things  as  they  are  and  as  they  will  continue  to  be,  to  have  in- 
tellectual beings  in  perpetual  warfare  against  instinct,  with 


THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

which  he  has  endowed  us  ?    Death  alone  can  give  them  their 
quietus ! 

Still,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  physiological  endowments  of 
nature,  they  make  unrelaxing  efforts,  and  bigots  run  mad  with 
pent-up  wrath,  because  they  cannot  rule  supremely  and  force 
their  dogmas  and  crotchets  down  the  throats  of  unbelievers. 

MARKIAGE. 

A  majority  of  mankind,  wherever  located,  savage,  barbar- 
ous, or  enlightened  by  education,  act  in  strict  accordance  with 
natural  laws,  conducive  to  health,  morals,  and  happiness. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  the  subject  to  prove  the  truth 
of  this  proposition. 

Thus  it  has  been  since  Adam  resided  in  the  garden  of  Eden, 
and  so  it  will  be  while  men  and  women  are  in  existence. 

Matrimony  is  an  ancient  institution,  but  the  misery  of  be- 
ing mis-matched  is  a  condition  of  wretchedness,  which  senti- 
mental reformers  will  find  it  hard  to  remedy.  If  a  couple  are 
joined  in  wedlock,  and  subsequently  discover  that  they  are  mis- 
mated,  it  is  a  tedious  process  to  relieve  themselves  of  the  misery 
of  that  relation. 

In  countries  making  no  pretensions  to  civilization,  when 
parties  discover  they  are  not  congenial  to  each  other,  they  simply 
separate.  That  is  a  relief  which  the  civil  law,  and  certainly  ec- 
clesiastical law,  very  tardily  and  reluctantly  permits. 

"Were  it  possible  for  contracting  parties  to  understand  each 
other  before  marriage,  in  regard  to  temperament,  disposition, 
moral  feelings,  and  tendencies  of  character,  it  would  be  a  bless- 
ing to  both,  since  they  could  avoid  many  of  those  forms  of  un- 
happiness  that  lead  to  dissatisfaction,  hate,  and,  lastly,  revenge, 
which  occasionally  closes  the  drama  of  married  life,  before  the 
real  purpose  and  responsibilities  of  the  compact  are  understood. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  417 

Some  women  imagine  their  lovers  are  to  continue  picking 
up  their  gloves  from  the  altar  to  three  score  and  ten.  Silly  men 
appear  surprised  that  the  angels  they  have  caged  wear  shoes, 
and  actually  possess  stomachs.  Of  course,  where  there  is  nei- 
ther judgment  nor  common-sense  for  guidance,  there  is  no 
binding  principle. 

Assuming  that  men  and  women  were  designed  to  live 
together,  it  is  a  problem  with  divines  and  legislators  how 
to  regulate  marriage  so  as  to  secure  equal  rights,  without 
caring  a  fig  about  the  domestic  happiness  of  those  entering 
upon  that  solemn  contract.  The  law  looks  after  property, 
and  regulates  the  disposition  of  it  in  every  contingency,  grow 
ing  out  of  the  discontent  or  separation  of  those  who  have  been 
legally  joined. 

~No  combination  of  circumstances  produces  such  real  felicity 
as  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  when  congenially  united. 
If  not  cordially  associated,  then  it  is  an  intolerable  bondage, 
hard  to  bear. 

Ecclesiastical  laws  contemplate  a  secure  binding,  leaving  the 
parties  without  escape  from  miseries  which  may,  and  certainly 
do,  follow  inharmonious  marriages. 

When  united,  as  it  has  repeatedly  happened  in  this  country, 
as  the  parties  supposed,  in  jest,  on  a  festive  occasion,  and  it  was 
subsequently  discovered  the  ceremony  had  actually  been  per- 
formed by  a  magistrate,  unknown  to  them,  in  that  official  char- 
acter, it  has  been  held  in  law  that  they  were  husband  and  wife, 
although  entirely  contrary  to  the  wishes  or  expectation  of  both 
sufferers. 

Such  a  connection,  it  would  seem,  in  equity  and  reason, 
ought  not  to  be  obligatory.  But  the  civil,  and,  perhaps,  eccle- 
siastical tribunals  concur  in  holding  the  parties  to  all  the  obliga- 
tions that  bind  consenting,  loving  couples. 


418  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Such  marriages  cannot  be  dissolved  without  wading  through 
tedious  and  expensive  legal  processes,  and  a  free  expenditure  of 
money,  which  last  power  carries  more  weight  with  it  than  the 
eternal  principles  of  justice. 

Communities  are  agitated  by  occasional  accidental  marriages. 
Sometimes  a  deep  plot  is  laid,  and  one  of  the  parties  is  unsus- 
pectingly duped  into  the  trap  matrimonial  by  an  irrepressible 
lover  or  fortune-hunter. 

Courts  are  invoked,  and  legislative  bodies  implored  for 
special  acts  for  emancipation  from  wretchedness  that  can  only 
terminate  with  death,  if  no  relief  is  afforded  at  the  fountain 
from  whence  the  law  had  its  origin. 

Nothing  can  be  accomplished  by  the  unhappy  poor  in  that 
dilemma,  but  what  they  do  for  themselves.  Women  commit 
suicide,  and  men  run  away  beyond  the  knowledge  of  those  who 
may  have  known  them.  It  is  useless  for  those  without  funds 
to  pray  tribunals  to  break  the  chains  that  hold  them  in  uncon- 
genial wedlock,  and  let  them  go  free  again,  even  when  the 
petition  is  a  mutual  prayer  of  the  aggrieved  sufferers. 

PURCHASE  OF  BELIEF. 

Paving  the  way  to  justice  with  dollars,  is  the  modern 
method  of  making  a  quick  passage  over  a  rough  road.  Money 
is  omnipotent  with  magistrates,  who  care  more  for  mammon 
than  the  approval  of  conscience. 

There  is  a  cry  for  a  modification  of  certain  laws  for  the 
special  benefit  of  the  unhappy  in  marriage,  to  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  demoralization  in  the  land. 

It  is  asserted  by  Oriental  travellers  that  there  is  far  more 
domestic  felicity  in  those  far  off,  unchristian  countries,  where 
wives  are  purchased,  and  even  among  savages,  whom  instinct, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  419 

and  not  sentiment,  guides  in  the  choice  of  a  wife,  than  with  us, 
where  law  binds,  but  reluctantly  unbinds,  the  tangled  web  of 
infelicities,  which  sometimes  characterize  matrimony. 

A  grave  question  with  moralists  is  this,  viz. :  Has  any 
government  positive,  unquestionable  authority  for  imposing 
obligations  upon  men  and  women,  that  it  would  be  a  violation 
of  a  divine  law  to  abrogate,  if  they  failed  to  secure  the  purposes 
for  which  they  were  enacted  ? 

There  is  such  manifest  dissatisfaction  all  over  the*  United 
States,  with  legislative  action  respecting  matrimonial  affairs, 
that  some  new  legal  principle  is  urgently  demanded  to  meet  the 
emergency. 

As  it  is,  divorces  are  as  common  as  revolutions  among  dis- 
satisfied politicians.  Even  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans, 
priding  themselves  on  their  law-abiding  character  for  propriety, 
have  become  restless.  Nowhere  is  there  more  wretchedness  in 
matrimonial  bonds  than  in  the  ISTew  England  States, — largely 
tracing  their  origin  to  the  voyagers  of  the  Mayflower. 

HELPMATE. 

Not  unfrequently  the  press  represents  that  women  are 
oftener  to  blame  than  men,  in  squabbles  for  emancipation. 
The  cry  comes  from  all  points  that  female  education,  as  now 
conducted,  quite  ignores  those  homely  notions  once  in  repute, 
that  a  wife  should  be  a  helpmate. 

"Women  have  witching  powers  of  fascination  for  leading  silly, 
as  well  as  well-balanced  intellectual  men  wherever  they  choose. 
But  the  contrary  creatures  themselves  cannot  be  driven  an  inch. 

In  this  fact  is  discoverable  the  origin  of  many  family 
troubles,  culminating  in  ineffable  misery,  which  nothing  short 
of  divorce  can  assuage. 


420  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Climate  exerts  a  baneful  influence  on  some  temperaments  at 
the  North.  Nearer  the  tropics,  divorces  are  less  frequent,  even 
among  those  who  have  no  educational  advantages. 

The  clergy,  claiming  to  interpret  the  Divine  Will,  un- 
willing to  relinquish  their  hold  upon  the  masses,  are  accused  of 
keeping  old  theories  and  old  customs  alive  too  long. 

Law  or  no  law,  human  or  divine,  when  a  couple  discover  an 
incompatibility  for  each  other,  they  generally  act  independently 
of  legislative  requirements, — braving  the  denunciations  of  the 
pulpit. 

Where  obstacles  are  interposed  which  cannot  legally  be  re- 
moved for  the  accommodation  of  one  of  the  parties,  enormous 
crimes  are  often  perpetrated  under  the  idea  of  regaining  lost 
liberty. 

Cruelties,  suicide,  and  murder  are  the  bad  consequences  of 
compulsory  laws,  obliging  those  to  drag  out  life  in  riveted 
wretchedness  who  desire  separation. 

A  QUESTION  KEGARDING  DIVOKCE. 

But  divorces  ought  not  to  be  granted  on  a  trifling  pretext1. 
When  a  man  and  wife  declare  their  determination  not  to  reside 
together,  for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves,  cogent  and 
right  in  their  own  deliberate  estimation,  what  is  gained  for 
public  morals  by  keeping  their  shackles  riveted  for  ever  ? 

Neither  society,  religion,  nor  the  State,  is  benefited  by  an  un- 
relaxing  policy  which  would  see  both  ruined  for  earth,  and  un- 
fitted for  heaven,  in  the  agony  of  their  uncongenial  condition. 

While  we  are  unflinching  advocates  for  marriage,  based  on 
affection,  it  seems  cruel  to  open  no  avenue  for  escape  under  cir- 
cumstances which  plead  for  sympathy  and  relief. 

It  is  useless  to  attempt  the  development  of  love  or  personal 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  421 

respect  by  law.  A  physiological  argument,  that  celibacy  is 
unfavorable  to  longevity,  never  hurried  any  one  into  matri- 
mony on  the  ground  that  it  was  solely  for  the  purpose  of  saving 
life. 

MORAL  REFLECTIONS. 

Men  and  women  unmarried  have  a  weaker  hold  upon  life 
than  the  married.  Were  the  institution  abolished,  public 
health  and  public  morals  would  reduce  society  first  to  con- 
fusion, and  then  to  chaos. 

Mankind  cannot  be  sustained  in  soundness  without  obeying 
laws  on  which  the  perpetuity  of  a  race  depends. 

Marriage,  then,  not  only  elevates  humanity,  but  also  gives 
us  a  stronger  hold  upon  life.  Single  men  or  single  women  do 
not  live  as  many  years  as  the  married,  all  things  being  equal, 
nor  are  they  as  free  from  indisposition  on  an  average. 

A  minute  exemplification  of  this  assertion  would  be  too 
professional,  hence  illustrations  are  omitted.  Every  medical 
practitioner  could  verify  this  statement  from  the  records  of  his 
own  practice,  were  it  necessary. 

In  1869,  the  following  statistical  information  was  chronicled 
in  Illinois,  abundantly  proving  as  much  as  may  be  required  for 
sustaining  an  opinion  that  matters  are  loosely  conducted  in  one 
State,  if  not  in  all,  calculated  to  rouse  the  apprehension  of 
moralists  in  regard  to  the  future  condition  of  a  Christian  com- 
munity : — 

"  Two  hundred  and  seventy-four  aspirants  for  widowhood, 
out  of  a  total  of  454,  filed  their  papers  in  that  court,  and  195 
discontented  husbands  appealed  to  the  same  tribunal.  The 
whole  number  of  divorce  suits  commenced  in  the  three  courts  in 
1869,  was  723  against  430  the  previous  year.  Four  hundred  and 
fifty-four  of  these  were  brought  by  wives,  and  269  by  husbands. 


422  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

The  '  better  half,'  it  will  be  seen  from  this,  is  the  most  restive 
half  in  the  hymeneal  coupling  by  considerable.  Of  the  454 
wives  who  sought  release  from  the  yoke  of  matrimony,  304 
were  made  happy  by  liberation,  and  150  were  remanded  back 
to  the  galling  bondage.  The  husbands  fared  somewhat  better 
in  proportion,  as  they  generally  contrive  to  do,  and  191  out  of 
the  total  269  were  sent  on  their  way  rejoicing  to  seek  new 
affinities." 

Life-insurance  companies  are  gradually  gathering  in  a  mass 
of  statistical  illustrations  confirmatory  of  these  views,  some 
of  which  are  quite  new  in  their  physiological  bearing  ;  at  least, 
they  have  never  been  so  plainly  and  intelligibly  demonstrated 
in  a  popular  form.  They  are  hygienic  discoveries,  sent  forth 
like  pilots  to  guide  those  who  are  authorized  to  take  risks  in 
the  issue  of  policies. 

Unfortunately  for  themselves,  women  seem  to  consider 
maternity  a  disease,  and,  therefore,  accompanied  by  a  hazard 
whicl^many  are  unwilling  to  incur.  Confinements,  slight  and 
temporary  as  they  are  in  ordinary  childbirth,  are  contemplated 
by  insurance  offices  as  sickness,  perilling  life.  Childbirth  is 
not  a  disease.  It  is  not  a  condition  that  should  give  the 
slightest  apprehension  of  danger.  To  become  a  mother  is 
equivalent  to  having  a  longer  lease  of  life.  The  oldest  women 
are  those  who  have  borne  many  children. 

Formerly,  those  who  had  had  the  largest  number  were  most 
honored.  Now,  those  having  the  fewest,  or  none  at  all,  are 
complimented  as  fortunate  beings. 

HAPPINESS  IN  CHILDBED. 

Children  are  not  a  curse,  though  they  are  sometimes  sources 
of  great  solicitude  and  care.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  bless- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  403 

ings,  even  to  those  whose  means  are  most  restricted,  as  might 
be  shown  were  it  of  consequence  to  reiterate  what  is  universally 
admitted  to  be  true  in  all  countries  and  among  all  orders  of 
men. 

Large  families  present  a  strong  front,  but  a  childless  house- 
hold is  a  desolate  place  before  the  sands  of  life  have  run 
out. 

Children  are  a  national  blessing.  Mothers  of  many  are  the 
safety  of  a  state.  Those  without  them  have  contributed 
nothing  to  humanity.  Who  is  to  rise  up  to  call  them 
blessed  ? 

Examples  of  extreme  longevity  have  been  recorded  of 
females  who  had  never  been  mothers.  Such,  however,  are  ex- 
ceptions to  the  general  law  of  feminine  life. 

If  it  could  be  ascertained  what  the  precise  condition  may 
have  been  of  those  represented  to  have  died  in  childbed,  it  is 
probable  it  would  appear  they  died  in  most  instances  from 
other  causes.  During  gestation,  tuberculous  affections  of  the 
lungs  and  scrofulous  difficulties  that  were  undermining  the  con- 
stitution, are  usually  partially  suspended,  that  the  new  being  in 
its  embryotic  state  in  utero  may  be  developed.  After  its  birth, 
the  malady  kept  in  abeyance  then  resumes  its  destructive 
course. 

Nature  steps  in  with  a  helping  hand,  keeping  back  the 
messenger  of  death  till  the  new  candidate  for  life  comes  into 
the  world  to  be  sustained  independently  of  the  maternal 
system. 

This  is  a  feature  of  such  striking  import,  that  it  cannot  be 
viewed  in  any  other  way  than  a  special  provision  for  meeting 
an  emergency. 

It  is  a  further  subject  of  curious  philosophical  interest,  that 
medical  reminiscences  also  furnish  proofs  of  perfect  restoration 


424  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

to  health,  from  feeble  emaciation,  during  the  months  of  gesta- 
tion. The  system  had  time  for  recuperating  during  a  suspen- 
sion of  a  disease ;  and,  once  gaining  an  ascendency,  the  vital 
forces  were  able  to  maintain  the  advantage  after  parturition. 

LIFE  EXPECTATION. 

By  marriage,  the  expectations  of  life  are  enhanced  and  im- 
proved. In  that  relation,  women  live  longer  than  men. 

Widows  have  more  vitality  than  widowers,  all  other  things 
being  equal,  and  a  majority  of  them  are  alive,  when  widowers 
are  very  considerably  reduced  in  numbers,  in  any  given  area  of 
country.  This  difference  is  due  to  the  better  habits  of  women. 
They  are  more  serene,  secretive,  and  less  exposed  to  debilitat- 
ing excitement. 

Women  are  more  reserved  than  men,  less  frequently  thrown 
into  abandoned  society,  and  when  their  suspicions  are  roused, 
that  contaminating  influences  are  approaching,  they  resist  de- 
moralizing attacks  far  more  heroically,  besides  being  character- 
istically more  consistent  and  conservative. 

Single  ladies,  especially  in  New  England,  are  prone  to  en- 
gage in  reformatory  schemes.  They  are  prodigiously  resolute 
in  their  efforts  to  compel  the  world  to  believe  in  their  pre-con- 
ceived  standard  of  right. 

Other  States  furnish  a  few  strong  female  representative 
minds,  devotedly  working  to  keep  the  social  elements  in  com- 
motion, that  they  may  finally  settle  down  in  conformity  to 
their  theoretical  ideal  of  political,  social,  and  moral  equality  on 
earth. 

Married  ladies  less  frequently  exhibit  themselves  on  plat- 
forms as  agitators.  When  they  do  ascend  the  rostrum,  how- 
ever, and  once  put  their  hands  to  the  plow,  there  is  energy,  but 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  425 

always  less  powerful  than  exhibitions  of  single  women,  when    t     \ 
they  are  fully  persuaded  they  have  a  mighty  mission  to  per- 
form. 

When  a  married  woman  dives  into  a  sea  of  political  strife,  ^ 
or  rouses  the  community  by  sensational  appeals,  were  the  pre- 
cise motives  influencing  her  truly  known,  it  would  be  found  it 
was  only  a  safety  valve,  by  which  she  endeavors  to  make  an  es- 
cape from  some  domestic  infelicity  at  home,  or  to  divert  the  at- 
tention of  the  public  from  herself  to  herself.  It  is  not  applause 
that  is  sought.  She  is  striving  to  conceal  something,  the  publi- 
cation of  which  might  plunge  her  to  the  depths  of  unhappiness. 

The  appearance  of  ladies  in  unnatural  positions,  officiating 
as  political  orators,  reformers,  preaching,  figuring  as  military 
officers,  and  similar  performances,  which  their  organization,  thin 
dress,  education,  and  habits  forbid,  in  the  judgment  of  man- 
kind, and  the  promptings  of  their  own  feminine  instincts, — it  is 
morally  certain  there  is  something  to  be  concealed. 

On  ascending  the  pulpit  or  the  forum,  either  to  plead 
causes  or  expound  theology,  it  may  be  assumed  that  those  posi- 
tions are  only  waste-gates,  through  which  are  floated  away 
pent-up  nervousness. 

WOMANLY  AFFECTIONS. 

Yearnings  of  the  heart  in  women  require  objects  on  which 
to  bestow  those  outgushings  of  love,  which  belong  to  their 
nature.  If  disappointed  in  youth,  the  fire  never  goes  out,  even 
in  advanced  age. 

It  burns  with  intensity  in  middle  life,  but  may  be  modified 
by  new  relations,  which  divert  the  mind  from  a  perpetual  con- 
templation of  unrequited  affection,  cruel  neglects,  or  slander- 
ous insinuations,  which  embitter  the  soul. 


426  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

"  Earth  has  no  rage  like  love  to  hatred  turn'd, 
Or  hell  a  fury  like  a  woman  spurned." 

In  a  prize  essay  on  the  physical  signs  of  longevity  in  man, 
published  in  1869  by  the  Popular  Life  Insurance  Company, 
it  is  laid  down  as  a  remarkable  circumstance,  that  when  the 
glow  and  warm  blood  of  youth  have  cooled  with  an  increase 
of  years,  single  women  are  exceedingly  prone  to  embark  in 
some  radical  scheme  or  ism,  quite  in  contrast  with  their  former 
tenor  of  life. 

If,  says  that  paper,  they  embrace  religious  or  political  doc- 
trines, quite  unthought  of.  or  which,  perhaps,  if  reflected  upon 
carelessly,  had  made  no  permanent  impression,  there  is  no 
calculating  upon  the  force  of  their  enthusiasm. 

In  Europe,  an  excess  of  vitality  in  the  sex  is  exhausted  in 
some  other  direction. 

New-England  women  find  no  outlet  to  their  excessive  ac- 
cumulation of  mental  force  giving  such  immediate  relief  as 
facing  assemblies  of  dissatisfied  persons  like  themselves. 

Single  women,  however  mentally  moved  to  revolutionize  a 
village  or  the  State,  with  all  the  strain  brought  to  bear  on  a 
fragile  system  in  the  promulgation  of  the  cause  they  may  have 
espoused,  have  a  stronger  hold  on  life,  and  a  better  prospect  of 
old  age  than  single  revolutionary  men,  simply  because  they 
neither  smoke,  chew  tobacco,  drink  to  excess",  carouse  at  places 
of  entertainment,  or  keep  very  late  hours  in  protracted  excite- 
ments. 

Their  regularity  in  diet,  and  freedom  from  common  dissipa- 
tions which  disgrace  men,  are  anchors  that  moor  them  safely 
in  a  sea  of  social  commotion. 

While  on  this  subject,  it  may  be  of  some  service  to  female 
readers  to  have  the  views  of  discreet  medical  statisticians  on 
conditions  which  are  inherited,  affecting  their  longevity,  drawn 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  427" 

from  the  same  source  from  whence  was  extracted  the  paragraph 
on  female  reformers. 


PROBABILITIES  IN  REGARD  TO  LIFE. 

First.  Both  men  and  women,  born  of  a  parentage  remark- 
able for  long  life,  inherit  vitality,  and  are  generally  tenacious 
of  life. 

They  occasionally  reach  a  very  advanced  period,  being  rarely 
the  victims  of  acute  epidemic  diseases. 

Second.  Children  born  of  parents,  one  but  not  both  of 
whom  inherited  long  life,  do  not  equally  inherit  vitality. 

In  a  considerable  number  of  brothers  and  sisters  thus  born, 
some  of  them  will  live  to  be  aged,  but  not  all. 

Third.  Men  or  women  with  particularly  long  bodies,  other- 
wise well  developed,  and  governed  by  all  the  circumstances  and 
conditions  heretofore  noted,  give  satisfactory  physical  signs  of  a 
long  life. 

Fourth.  Married  women  who  have  been  mothers,  if  in  com- 
fortable circumstances,  especially  in  the  country,  have  the 
prospect  of  a  longer  life  than  those  who  have  not  borne 
children. 

Fifth.  Widows  have  not  the  prospect  of  so  long  a  life  as 
married  women. 

Sixth.  Widowers  have  not  a  prospect  of  so  long  a  life  as 
married  men.  Married  persons,  if  happily  connected,  have  a 
prospect  of  a  longer  life  than  if  unmarried. 

Seventh.  Unmarried  women,  in  health,  easy  in  their  circum- 
stances, and  pleasantly  conditioned  in  society,  have  a  prospect 
of  a  longer  life  than  unmarried  men  of  the  same  social  stand- 
ing. 

Eighth.  Unmarried  women,  dependent  upon  their  own  per- 


428  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

sonal  efforts,  and  harassed  by  anxieties,  have  not  a  prospect  of 
long  life. 

Ninth.  Excitable,  fractious  men  or  women,  when  married, 
who  are  subject  to  paroxysms  of  sudden  anger,  peril  their  pro- 
spects of  a  long  life. 

Tenth.  Both  men  and  women,  although  in  easy  circum- 
stances, if  of  a  jealous,  irritable  disposition,  or  subject  to  morose 
exhibitions  of  temper,  married  or  unmarried,  have  not  a  pro- 
spect of  long  life.  Still,  a  few  out  of  many  may  sometimes 
live  to  be  aged. 

Eleventh.  Men  or  women  who  have  changed  their  residence 
from  a  cold  or  moderately  temperate  climate  of  one  continent, 
to  a  similar  one  on  another,  if  comfortable  in  circumstances, 
and  industrious  and  correct  in  their  habits,  do  not  have  their 
vitality  impaired. 

Twelfth.  Men  or  women  who  remove  from  one  continent  to 
another,  as  from  Europe  to  America,  or  from  America  to 
Europe,  if  inclined  to  excesses  which  impair  vital  force,  may 
die  prematurely. 

EXCESS  OF  FEMALE  POPULATION. 

Females  in  the  New-England  States  already  outnumber 
the  male  population  at  particular  points ;  and  there  is  a  social 
cause  operating  that  will  give  a  female  majority  in  all  of 
them  within  a  few  years. 

An  excess  of  females  in  nearly  all  the  large  cities  of  the 
Atlantic  coast,  from  Maine  to  Washington,  is  an  unfortunate 
circumstance  for  the  prosperity  of  the  nation,  as  it  is  for 
humanity. 

It  is  impossible  for  them  all  to  have  husbands,  simply  be- 
cause there  are  not  men  enough,  numerically,  to  meet  the  case, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  429 

provided,  in  all  other  respects,  the  way  were  clear  for  honor- 
able marriage. 

A  discrepancy  is  an  argument  for  providing  for  an  increas- 
ing army  of  females  proper  and  remunerative  employments.  It 
must  be  done,  or  fearful  consequences,  poverty,  destitution, 
demoralization,  crime,  and,  indeed,  a  deplorable  moral  deso- 
lation, will  certainly  ensue. 

If  they  could  be  induced  to  cast  their  bread  upon  the 
waters  of  hope,  in  the  fruitful  regions  of  the  West,  where 
men  are  vastly  more  numerous  than  women,  their  protec- 
tion would  be  complete,  and  they  might  safely  calculate  upon 
that  measure  of  security,  happiness,  and  ultimate  indepen- 
dence, which  flows  from  virtuous  and  well-directed  efforts. 

Here  is  a  statistical  synopsis  of  the  population  of  the  globe, 
with  a  classification.* 


*  There  are  on  the  globe  1,288,000,000  souls,  of  which 

360,000,000  are  of  the  Caucasian  race. 

552,000,000  are  of  the  Mongol  race. 

190,000,000  are  of  the  Ethiopian  race. 

176,000,000  are  of  the  Malay  race. 

1,000,000  are  of  the  Indo- American  race. 

There  are  3,642  languages  spoken,  and  1,000  different  religions. 

The  yearly  mortality  of  the  globe  is  33,333,333  persons.  This  is  at  the 
rate  of  91,554  per  day,  3,730  per  hour,  62  per  minute.  So  each  pulsation  of 
the  heart  marks  the  decease  of  some  human  creature. 

The  average  of  human  life  is  33  years. 

One-fourth  of  the  population  dies  at  or  before  the  age  of  seven  years. 

One-half  at  or  before  seventeen  years. 

Among  10,000  persons  one  arrives  at  the  age  of  100  years  ;  one  in  500 
attains  the  age  of  90  ;  and  one  in  100  lives  to  the  age  of  60. 

Married  men  live  longer  than  single  ones. 

In  1,000  persons  95  marry,  and  more  marriages  occur  in  June  and  Decem- 
ber than  in  any  other  month  of  the  year. 

One-eighth  of  the  whole  population  is  military. 

Professions  exercise  a  great  influence  on  longevity.  In  1,000  individuals 
who  arrive  at  the  age  of  70  years,  43  are  priests,  orators,  or  public  speakers, 
30  are  agriculturists,  33  are  workmen,  32  are  soldiers  or  military  employes, 
29  advocates  or  engineers,  27  professors,  and  24  doctors. 


430  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  no  time  to  lose,  if  there  is  a  ray  of 
ambition  to  turn  life  to  the  best  account. 

There  is  not  only  a  perpetual  yearning  for  something  more 
than  we  have,  but  a  strife  also  for  positions  that  promise, 
either  truly  or  theoretically,  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  that 
in  which  much  happiness  is  imagined  to  exist. 


Those  who  devote  their  lives  to  the  prolongation  of  others  die  the  soonest. 

There  are  336,000,000  Christians. 

There  are  5,000,000  Israelites. 

There  are  60,000,000  Asiatic  religionists. 

There  are  190,000,000  Mahometans. 

There  are  300,000,000  Pagans. 

In  the  Christian  Churches — 

170,000,000  profess  the  Roman  Catholic. 

75,000,000  profess  the  Greek  faith. 

80,000,000  profess  the  Protestant. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
THEIR  DANGERS  IK  MARRIAGE. 

Laws  of  Descent — Evolution — Marriage  of  Whites  with  Blacks — Mental  and 
Physical  Deterioration — Manly  Perfection — Inherited  Virtues — Selec- 
tions, etc. 

How  far  and  to  what  extent  we  are  accountable  for  what,  to 
our  short-sightedness,  seems  quite  beyond  control,  is  a  question 
to  be  pondered  upon  by  those  who  assume  to  be  wise  where 
others  are  in  doubt. 

Our  existence  is  forced  upon  us.  It  is  a  destiny,  and,  there- 
fore, no  way  within  the  sphere  of  our  volitions. 

Were  we  consciously  alive  before  being  united  with  perish- 
able humanity,  and  it  were  optional  with  us  to  change  relations, 
and  become  associated  with  a  body  subjected  to  the  vicissitudes 
which  are  inseparable  from  existence  on  earth,  how  many 
would  probably  hazard  the  enterprise  ? 

Nothing  in  the  divine  economy  is  more  marvellous  than  the 
succession  of  animals  and  plants. 

Wonderfully  ingenious  contrivances  are  invented,  which 
perform  operations  so  complicated  and  extraordinary,  that  an 
unsuspecting  observer  would  be  ready  to  admit  that  the  move- 
ments indicated  a  spirit  of  intelligence.  Such  may  be  the  com- 
bination of  wheels,  springs,  and  weights,  as  to  appear  like  the 
phenomena  of  life.  And  yet,  life  surpasses  the  comprehension 
of  the  prof  oundest  investigators,  and  the  most  learned  in  science. 
Ingeniously  devised  as  machines  may  be,  none  of  them  keep 


432    .  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

themselves  in  repair,  or  reproduce  similar  machines  when  the 
old  ones  are  broken  or  worn  out. 

Nature,  superior  and  supreme,  does  both.  One  generation 
succeeds  another,  supplying  the  world  with  new  and  vigorous 
laborers  for  uninterrupted  progress.  The  fountain  from  whence 
flows  a  river  of  life  is  exhaustless.  Though  man  dies,  and  in- 
dividuals are  forgotten  in  the  revolutions  of  time,  yet  while 
the  globe  moves  in  its  orbit,  men  will  be  in  existence  to  super- 
intend the  domain  to  which  they  belong. 

With  the  progress  of  discovery,  we  have  had  glimpses  of 
wrecks  of  ancient  cities,  and  examined  skeletons  of  monster 
animals,  that  once  had  exclusive  possession  of  this  fair  country, 
at  a  period  so  vastly  remote,  that  neither  chronologists  nor 
geologists  agree  upon  the  number  of  centuries  those  osseous 
remains  have  been  hermetically  sealed  up  in  rocks,  or  concealed 
in  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 

Marine  shells  on  the  summits  of  the  highest  mountains, 
raised  to  their  lofty  elevation  by  upheaval  forces  from  the 
depths  of  primitive  seas,  testify  to  mighty  revolutions  in  the 
physical  aspect  of  the  land  and  sea. 

EVOLUTION. 

A  query  has  been  advanced  as  to  whether  the  lineal 
descendants  of  any  progenitor  in  families  now  recognized  as 
representatives  of  ancient  types,  bear  a  resemblance  to  those 
from  whence  their  existence  was  derived. 

Learned  inquirers  contend  that  there  has  been  a  gradual 
evolution  going  on  from  the  very  creation  of  each  and  every 
race  now  in  existence,  and,  therefore,  the  last  in  the  series  must 
be  entirely  different  in  structure,  and,  consequently,  has 
modified  tendencies,  instincts,  and  propensities. 


THE   WAYS    OF  WOMEN.  433 

This  is  a  new  doctrine  with  an  increasing  school  of  disciples. 

From  the  simplest  forms,  according  to  the  new  theory,  com- 
plicated structures  and  exterior  forms  far  more  perfect  have 
been  developed,  and,  therefore,  better  calculated  for  sustaining 
higher  relations  than  those  from  which  they  originally  sprang, 
far  back  in  the  realms  of  chaos.  Germs  could  not  have  pos- 
sessed either  volition  or  locomotive  force. 

Assuming  that  man  was  at  first  a  granule,  a  mere  speck,  a 
germ  floating  in  a  fathomless,  illimitable  ocean  of  space,  in 
which  was  embodied  an  inherent  vitalization,  always  exerting 
itself  by  unconscious  efforts  to  push  out  further,  and  to  become 
larger,  stronger,  and,  perhaps,  have  organs  of  prehension,  it  is 
quite  as  difficult  to  manage  the  problem  of  a  first  commence- 
ment of  the  spark  of  life,  as  to  account  for  the  manifestations 
of  intellect. 

How  long  men  have  walked  on  two  feet  or  had  a  brain 
capable  of  reasoning,  eludes  the  prying  industry  of  paleon- 
tologists. Some  are  becoming  bold  in  their  determinations  to 
ignore  the  Mosaic  cosmogony.  They  pretend  to  believe  that 
man  has  been  on  this  earth  far  longer  than  the  sacred  historian 
represents,  if  a  true  interpretation  has  been  rendered  of  the 
inspired  narrative. 

If  the  mastodon,  and  the  great  saurian  reptiles  almost  one 
hundred  feet  in  length,  were  extinct  ten  thousand  years  ago, 
some  have  the  presumption  to  assert  that  man  was  here  with 
them. 

A  few  arrow-heads,  found  sticking  fast  in  a  skull  of  a 
gigantic  monster  that,  theoretically,  has  been  dead  ten  thousand 
years,  is  brought  in  support  of  the  proposition.  They  assume 
it  as  almost  conclusive  evidence  that  men  of  those  times  were 
hunters,  and  that  flint-armed  arrows  were  fabricated  by  them 
for  killing  game.  That  was  the  stone  age. 


434:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

It  might  be  asserted  with  equal  propriety,  that  those  ani- 
mals have  not  been  extinct  one  thousand  years. 

Let  all  speculations  of  that  kind  pass,  since  our  geological 
acquirements  are  not  so  firmly  fixed  but  they  may  undergo 
many  modifications  in  the  progress  of  further  discoveries. 

Theories  are  easily  constructed  and  unceremoniously  aban- 
doned without  loss.  We  have  penetrated  but  a  little  way  into 
the  crust  of  the  earth,  where  strange  things  will  come  to  the 
surface  to  astonish  naturalists  at  some  remote  future. 


LAW  OF  DESCENT. 
i 

Transmitting  to  a  new  being  some  anomaly  recognized  as 
an  anomaly,  because  of  a  striking  deviation  from  the  type  to 
which  it  belongs,  must  be  received  as  accidental,  and  not  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  descent. 

Were  cross-eved  parents  invariably  to  have  cross-eyed  chil- 
dren,— hair-lipped  sons  or  blind  people,  the  offspring  of  persons 
thus  unfortunate, — it  would  give  some  coloring  to  the  specula- 
tions of  those  who  insist  that  there  were  five  Adams,  progenitors 
of  the  five  known  races  of  men.  There  are  indeed  five  distinct 
races.  There  are  certain  peculiar  characteristics  by  which  they 
are  readily  distinguished  from  one  another. 

One  is  yellow,  a  second  black,  a  third  red,  a  fourth  white, 
and  a  fifth  something  else.  These  are  perplexing  facts ;  but 
on  the  supposition  that  climate  has  produced  alterations  which 
have  become  permanent,  is  the  way  the  subject  is  most  readily 
disposed  of  by  those  who  give  it  the  least  consideration. 

According  to  the  record  of  Genesis,  the  first  man,  Adam, 
was  created  about  six  thousand  years  ago.  That  belief  is  sus- 
tained by  researches  not  to  be  lightly  questioned. 

Here  we  approach  stumbling-blocks,  that   derange   many 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  435 

finely-drawn  arguments,  not  strengthened  by  science.  Kevela- 
tion  is  one  thing,  and  the  laws  of  nature  something  entirely 
different. 

About  two  thousand  years  after  the  creation  of  Adam,  some 
of  his  lineal  posterity  were  singularly  altered,  in  the  color  of 
their  skin,  if  it  is  assumed  he  was  a  white  man.  If  the  Cauca- 
sian is  a  type  of  our  Eden  ancestors,  strange  changes  have 
taken  place  in  the  form  of  the  face  of  the  representative  races 
of  men  now  in  existence.  Monuments  are  still  standing,  four 
thousand  years  old,  inscribed  with  characters  which  record,  pro- 
bably, remarkable  events.  Enough  of  some  of  them  have  been 
deciphered  to  ascertain  their  immense  antiquity,  reaching  with- 
in two  thousand  years  of  Adam's  lifetime.  And  on  many  of 
them  are  sculptured  facial  outlines,  profiles,  and  human  faces, 
that  show  men  looked  then  just  as  they  do  in  eighteen  hundred 
and  seventy-three.  Five  distinct  races  of  human  beings  un- 
questionably existed  then,  that  is,  four  thousand  years  ago. 

The  negro  features  on  those  monumental  guide-posts  into  the 
obscurities  of  the  past,  were  precisely  what  they  are  in  Africa 
to-day.  The  protruding  jaws,  thick  lips,  and  crispy,  woolly 
covering  of  the  head,  were  then  as  they  are  now. 

How  was  a  change  from  a  Caucasian  type,  if  that  was  the 
original  facial  form,  color,  and  expression,  brought  about  in  two 
thousand  years,  and  from  that  period,  resulting  in  permanent  al- 
terations, that  arrange  mankind  in  five  distinctly  marked  varie- 
ties of  men  ? 

~No  essential  physical,  and,  possibly,  no  moral  tendencies  or 
changes  have  occurred  in  four  thousand  years,  since  that  grand 
revolutionary  alteration  of  the  primitive  outline  form.  Nor  is 
there  any  reason  for  expecting  further  modifications  in  four 
thousand  years  to  come. 

Monster  children  rarely  live  more  than  a  few  hours  from 


436  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

birth.  Those  born  defective  in  limbs,  or  with  peculiar  mark- 
ings, misplaced  viscera,  harelip,  etc.,  in  becoming  parents,  do 
not  transmit  their  defects  to  their  offspring.  They  are  as  fair 
and  as  beautifully  proportioned  as  the  children  of  symmetrical 
parentage.  The  exceptions  to  that  law  are  referred  to  in  an- 
other chapter,  as  anomalies. 

Chickens  are  hatched  with  two  heads,  four  legs ;  or  a  boy  is 
born  with  only  one  arm.  But  they  do  not  propagate  those  de- 
viations from  a  normal  pattern,  which  is  characteristic  of  a  spe- 
cies. They  have  no  descendants  like  themselves. 

That  would  eventuate  in  confusion.  The  fair  world  we  in- 
habit, were  there  no  fixed  laws  respecting  definite  forms, 
would  soon  team  with  hideous  monsters,  widely  differing  from 
one  another,  both  externally  and  internally. 

Order  being  an  unchangeable  law,  any  deviations  from  a 
primeval  standard,  if  varying  at  all,  must  be  very  gradually  ef- 
fected, requiring  the  revolution  of  centuries  upon  centuries. 
There  is  no  sudden  or  violent  departure. 

A  mule  rarely,  if  ever,  propagates.  While  some  naturalists 
claim  it  possible,  others  are  strenuous  in  the  opinion  that 
it  would  be  impossible,  inasmuch  as  it  would  be  a  violation  of  a 
fundamental  law  of  nature,  perpetually  in  force  to  preserve 
races,  and  to  prevent  anomalous  admixtures  of  blood,  that 
would  lead  to  an  animal  chaos. 

Sterile  as  mules  are,  they  are  influenced  by  instincts  and 
propensities,  peculiar  to  the  two  distinct  stocks  from  which 
they  sprang.  There  is  a  compensation  for  their  anomalous  con- 
dition,— their  longevity  exceeding  both  horse  and  ass.  The  lat- 
ter have  the  pleasure  of  rearing  others  to  take  their  places, 
which,  the  mule  cannot  have,  as  the  maternal  parent  has  in 
nursing  and  protecting  her  long-eared  colt,  singularly  unlike 
herself  in  exterior  appearance. 


I 

THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  437 

An  ass  is  old  and  quite  stupid  at  twenty,  although  his  lon- 
gevity is  beyond  that  of  the  horse. 

A  mule,  not  abused,  is  hale,  strong,  and  serviceable,  at  fifty. 
They  have  reached  eighty  years.  Though  faring  poorly,  and 
usually  treated  with  severity,  he  has  a  compensation  in  im- 
munity from  ordinary  equine  maladies. 

A  mixture  of  blood  among  different  races  of  men  neither 
promotes  health,  strength,  nor  longevity. 

Some  singular  phenomena  present  themselves  in  the  amal- 
gamation of  Asiatics  with  Africans  or  American  Indians,  which 
have  a  bearing  on  moral  questions,  that  must  necessarily  be  met 
by  those  who  are  earnest  for  the  improvement  of  humanity.  But 
it  is'  a  topic  to  be  approached  with  extreme  caution,  to  avoid 
shocking  the  sensibilities  of  modern  political  philanthropists, 
who  discover  no  difference  in  the  intellectual  calibre  of  the 
white,  black,  red,  or  yellow  man. 

That  a  soul  may  be  encased  in  different-colored  envelopes, 
according  to  climatic  influence,  is  a  doctrine  taught  by  radical 
social  reformers,  without  affecting  its  powers. 

We  shall  not  discuss  that  subject,  which  has  invariably 
been  productive  of  more  vindictive  feeling  than  sound  philo- 
sophy, whenever  brought  forward. 

One  of  the  evils  attending  a  practical  illustration  of  the 
doctrine,  that  it  is  perfectly  right  and  proper  to  amalgamate 
races,  and  mix  those  of  different  color  and  facial  expression, 
according  to  the  fancy  of  unreflecting  parties,  is  a  positive 
certainty  of  deterioration,  and  the  final  disappearance  of  those 
whose  origin  is  thus  commenced. 

Is  it  no  violation  of  a  natural  law  of  which  each  and  every 
one,  however  low  in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  has  an  instinctive 
appreciation,  for  whites  and  blacks  to  intermarry  ? 

Is  it  not  wrong  to  rear  families  of  all  intermediate  shades, 


« 


438  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

whose  parti-colored  appearance  does  not  meet  the  approval  of 
either  party  ? 

Their  children  are  born  to  a  conscious  feeling  of  degradation. 


MARRIAGE  OF  WHITES  A^D  BLACKS. 

All  men  are  born  free  and  equal  in  the  sight  of  God,  and, 
in  the  language  of  political  orators,  have  a  right  to  pursue  the 
way  that  leads  to  happiness. 

But  where  is  the  most  devoted  friend  of  the  most  oppressed 
and  maltreated  of  all  races,  the  negro,  who  would  not  manifest 
a  repugnance  to  the  union  of  his-  accomplished  daughters  with 
black  husbands,  however  unexceptionable  in  manners,  culture, 
or  character  ? 

To  pretend  that  no  such  sentiment  as  an  instinctive  objec- 
tion ought  to  operate  against  it,  would  give  the  lie  to  one  of 
the  strongest  dictates  of  nature  and  conscience. 

For  the  sake  of  appearing  consistent  in  the  estimation  of 
those  who  might  comment  to  the  disadvantage  of  those  pro- 
mulgating the  doctrine,  that  color  should  not  be  objectionable 
in  forming  marriage-ties,  teachers  of  such  abominable  senti- 
ments may  successfully  conceal  their  true  feelings ;  but  they 
live  hypocrites,  self-condemned. 

"We  cannot  go  counter  to  the  established  laws  of  nature 
and  morality,  without  having  a  conscious  prompting  of  the 
wrong  we  have  been  doing. 

In  a  first  remove  from  the  mixed  parentage  of  black  and 
white,  the  children  are  not  all  of  the  same  tint.  Among  a 
group  of  six,  for  example,  one  may  be  black,  with  protruding 
lips  and  short  woolly  hair  ;  another  will  have  a  retreating  fore- 
head and  lighter  complexion.  Neither  the  features  of  the 
father  or  the  mother  are  distinctly  reproduced  in  either,  while 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  439 

all  of  them  are  marked  deviations  in  form,  stature,  color,  and, 
perhaps,  mental  calibre,  from  the  parents. 

MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  DETERIORATION. 

When  those  children  in  turn  become  parents,  they  are  less 
fruitful.  In  the  next  remove,  they  are  not  well  developed. 
Their  muscles  are  slender  and  flabby,  the  form  inclined  to  be 
gaunt,  and  in  mental  force  they  are  inferior  to  those  from 
whom  they  derived  their  being. 

Besides  a  physical  deterioration,  a  scrofulous  diathesis 
begins  to  appear.  They  hold  out  longer  than  hybrids  from 
domesticated  animals,  with  the  exception  of  the  mule ;  but 
according  to  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Forbes,  they  actually  cease  to 
propagate  in  the  fifth  remove  from  a  union  of  Caucasian  and 
African  blood. 

MANLY  PERFECTION. 

The  negro  is  a  man  for  Africa,  the  Malay  for  the  East 
Indies,  and  whites  for  temperate  zones  an$  hyperborean  lati- 
tudes. In  the  temperate,  the  white  man  attains  the  highest 
condition  of  which  his  nature  is  susceptible. 

What  is  a  half-breed  ?  In  this  country  it  is  understood  to 
be  a  child  of  a  white  father  and  a  squaw.  They  have  never 
been  raised  to  any  prominent  positions  of  usefulness  through  a 
native  spirit  of  energy ;  nor,  even  when  assisted  by  conscientious, 
painstaking  philanthropists,  could  one  of  them  be  made  into  a 
counsellor,  a  man  of  thought,  of  any  value  to  the  interests  of 
society. 

No  educational  discipline  conducted  with  special  reference 
to  proving  their  capacity  for  progress,  or  how  splendidly  they 
may  operate  as  instrumentalities  in  advancing  the  civilization 
of  savage  tribes,  has  ever  been  successful. 


440  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

They  have  never  gone  forward,  aided  by  such  facilities  as 
have  been  urged  upon  them  by  Christian  charity  and  govern- 
mental patronage,  to  the  achievement  of  any  results,  predicted 
and  hoped  for  by  their  warm  and  sincere  friends. 

Half-breeds  may  be  persuaded  to  reside  in  houses  superior 
to  wigwams,  to  cultivate  fields,  and  wear  clothing  more  com- 
plicated than  a  blanket ;  yet  they  do  not  readily  fall  in  with  the 
ways  of  civilization.  They  have  neither  been  made  scholars  nor 
very  devout  worshippers.  They  are  just  as  near  to  the  usages 
of  ordinary  civil  life  as  they  are  to  the  white  man  in  blood, 
but  no  nearer.  They  have  to  be  sustained  by  unrelaxing 
effort,  or  they  quickly  deteriorate  by  running  into  those  wild 
habits  of  indolence  which  are  predominant  in  the  nature  of 
the  stock  from  which  they  came,  always  stronger  on  the  Indian 
side  than  on  the  other. 

Some  few  individual  half-breeds  have  been  rather  successful 
in  elementary  agriculture.  They  may  raise  corn,  send  their 
children  to  schools  provided  for  them,  but  no  scheme  has  yet 
been  successful  in  moulding  them  willingly  and  heartily  into 
the  ways  and  habits  of  Anglo-Saxons.  They  never  can  be  kept 
up  to  any  standard  of  civilization  to  which  they  have  apparently 
been  raised. 

DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

Gradually  and  inevitably  both  Indians  and  their  half-breed 
descendants  will  wholly  disappear  from  the  continent.  A  few 
centuries  hence  there  will  not  be  a  remnant  left  of  the  red  race 
which  once  roamed  with  unrestrained  freedom,  like  the  game 
they  pursued,  on  the  broad  expanse  of  North  America. 

Indians  are  a  pioneer  race,  whose  mission  is  nearly  accom- 
plished. Nations  were  here  before  them.  Millions  of  human 
beings,  who  are  only  known  through  the  monuments  that  re- 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  441 

main,  the  evidences  of  their  industry  and  labors  in  the  rearing 
of  mounds  and  earthworks,  which  have  outlived  the  name,  the 
fortunes,  and  the  history  of  those  who  raised  them,  were  exter- 
minated by  these  remnants  of  powerful  invaders,  whose  gradual 
extinction  is  certainly  decreed  in  the  court  of  destiny. 

All  such  revolutions, — the  appearance  and  disappearance  of 
races, — are  in  conformity  to  a  law  of  limitation.     Nations,  like 
individuals,  carry  in  their  organization  the  seeds  of  dissolution. 
• 

TENDENCY  TO  DISEASE  TEANSMISSIBLE. 

Children  of  consumptive  parents  are  born  with  minute 
tubercles  in  their  lungs,  embedded  in  elastic  pulmonary  tissues. 
Their  existence  may  not  even  be  suspected ;  but  when  exposed 
to  influences  which  inflame  them,  they  burst  and  ulcerate 
through  the  delicate  air-cells,  and  death  supervenes. 

Children  of  consumptive  parents  rarely  escape  the  fatal 
malady.  Even  if  no  incipient  tubercles  are  quiescently  slum- 
bering in  their  lungs  up  to  the  middle  age  of  life,  when  reach- 
ing the  period  at  which  the  parents  fell  under  the  disease,  they 
are  pretty  sure  to  pass  away  in  a  similar  manner,  provided  they 
remain  in  the  same  locality. 

By  taking  up  a  residence  where  the  atmosphere  is  freer 
from  humidity,  vitality  may  be  very  materially  recruited,  and 
life  prolonged.  But  whenever  tubercles  are  present,  as  a  direct 
inheritance,  no  methods  have  yet  been  successful  in  preventing 
them  from  inflaming,  softening,  and  degenerating  into  pus. 

"When  that  stage  is  ushered  in,  the  skill  of  medical  practi- 
tioners avails  nothing.  "When  those  organs  in  winch  vitality  is 
manufactured — that  is,  where  oxygen  is  separated  from  atmo- 
spheric air,  and  carbonic  acid  thrown  off — are  actually  destroyed, 
a  recovery  is  impossible. 


44:2  THE  WAYS   OF  WOMEN. 

DECEPTIONS  OF  QUACKS. 

Nothing  is  more  preposterous  than  the  vaunted  pretensions 
of  those  empirics, — criminal  quacks  who  raise  expectations,  by 
announcing  the  restoration  of  consumptives  by  new  methods 
of  medication,  generally  their  own. 

A  destruction  of  the  parts  of  an  organ  in  which  vitalizing 
properties  of  the  air  are  brought  in  direct  contact  with  arterial 
blood,  must  terminate  fatally.  No  regeneration  of  destroyed 
parts  can  be  made  by  any  process  within  the  range  of  science. 

ACTUAL  MALADIES  INHERITED. 

Scrofula  is  transmissible ;  so  are  syphilitic  taints,  and  some 
eruptive  maladies.  The  latter  are  traceable,  carefully  inves- 
tigated, quite  frequently  to  the  same  source.  Even  a  pre- 
disposition to  deafness,  nervous  irregularities,  distorted  fingers, 
incurvated  nails,  enlarged  joints,  St.  Yitus's  dance,  and  all 
shades  of  insanity,  pass  from  family  to  family  for  several  gene- 
rations, rather  gaining  intensity  than  losing  force. 

A  tendency  to  bleed  profusely,  and  even  to  die  of  hemor- 
rhage from  slight  punctures,  or  the  simple  extraction  of  a  tooth, 
runs  in  some  families,  without  remedy. 

INHERITED  PHYSICAL  EXCELLENCIES. 

Such  facts,  and  many  more  illustrative  of  the  law  of 
transmission,  are  familiar  to  physicians.  It  is  equally  true 
that  personal  beauty,  tine  teeth,  a  tall  figure,  a  musical  voice, 
a  mathematical  brain,  are  inherited  and  propagated,  like 
moral  qualities. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  443 

IMPERFECTION  OF  ART  IN  SAYING  LIFE. 

Surgeons,  of  extensive  experience,  have  often  failed  to 
arrest  hemorrhages  in  one  of  those  so-called  natural  bleeders. 
Whether  their  blood  is  deficient  in  that  plastic  element 
which  assists  coagulation,  or  whether  a  retraction  of  the  lips 
of  wounds  in  them,  which  cannot  be  kept  together  by  ordinary 
mechanical  appliances,  is  owing  to  some  peculiar  spasmodic 
contraction  of  tissues,  has  not  been  ascertained. 

Compression,  styptics,  or,  indeed,  any  of  the  commonly 
known  modes  of  arresting  a  flow  of  blood  in  those  thus  pre- 
disposed, are  ineffectual. 

SELECTIONS  IN  MARRIAGE. 

It  behooves  those  expecting  to  enter  upon  the  responsi- 
bilities of  marriage,  to  weigh  well  and  investigate  a  family 
history  before  such  relationship  is  formed, 

A  past  and  present  sanitary  character  of  a  family  with  which 
marriage  is  proposed,  is  of  far  more  importance  than  might  at 
first  be  supposed,  since  various  conditions  in  regard  to  body  and 
mind  are  propagated,  and  may  lead  to  individual  sufferings  and 
misery  through  generations  in  the  future. 

Such  inquiries,  of  course,  would  have  to  be  conducted  in  a 
very  guarded  manner ;  otherwise,  not  only  much  offence  might 
be  roused,  but  the  whole  matter  considered  impertinent  and 
ridiculous. 

But  a  regard  for  one's  own  comfort  in  the  possible  appear- 
ance on  the  stage  of  life  of  others  for  whose  well-being,  charac- 
ter, and  condition,  the  happiness  of  parents  will  be  at  stake, 
fully  justifies  such  inquiries  and  investigations. 

If  a  young  lady  has   ascertained  that  consumption  is  a 


444  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

hereditary  malady  in  the  family  of  the  man  who  proposes  him- 
self for  a  husband,  prudence  should  influence  her  not  to  peril 
herself,  or  the  children  she  would  probably  bear,  to  the  con- 
tingencies that  surround  a  family  predisposed  to  a  lingering 
and  fatal  disease. 

She  could  avoid  a  prospective  trouble.  It  is  useless  to  ex- 
tend the  argument  against  being  joined  in  wedlock  with  a  man 
who  is  certain  to  die,  as  his  father,  mother,  brothers  or  sisters 
had  died,  of  pulmonary  consumption. 

PEOGEESS  OF  PULMONAEY  CONSUMPTION. 

An  amazing  destruction  of  human  life  from  that  incurable 
disease  is  all  the  while  going  on  in  the  United  States,  particu- 
larly  in  the  northern  parts. 

Without  regard  to  the  laws  of  probability,  or  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  fair,  bright,  beautiful,  and  intelligent,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  life,  by  that  malady,  even  to  the  extinction  of  families, 
little  or  no  thought  is  given  to  that  which  is  pretty  sure  to  oc- 
cur when  marriage  is  proposed. 

The  farmer  selects  the  soundest,  best-developed  seeds  and 
appropriate  soil,  otherwise  the  harvest  would  be  small  and  im- 
perfect. In  the  raising  of  stock,  none  but  the  soundest  in 
health,  best-formed,  and  exhibiting  indications  of  constitutional 
vigor,  are  allowed  to  propagate.  Thus  the  high-bred  horse,  the 
splendid  ox,  the  finest  sheep,  and  choicest  poultry  are  obtained, 
by  determining  from  what  source  they  shall  spring. 

Nature  manages  among  birds  and  all  animals,  in  a  way  to 
secure  health  and  strength,  by  not  permitting  the  weak,  feeble, 
puny  males  to  generate  at  all.  They  are  driven  away  and  kept 
at  a  distance  by  the  giants  of  the  herd,  the  flock,  and  in  the 
poultry  yard,  who  alone  are  the  sires  of  each  succeeding  genera- 
tion. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  445 

The  female  is  passive  in  all  those  examples,  having  no  par- 
tialities or  affections  to  gratify ;  and  thus  the  blood  of  each  is 
kept  up  to  the  highest  requirements  of  an  organic  law. 

If  consumptives  did  not  intermarry,  hereditary  consump- 
tion would  disappear.  Pecuniary  advantages,  social  condition, 
and  love,  each  acting  with  peculiar  force,  pay  no  regard  to  the 
future,  in  respect  to  health. 

Children  are  thus  born  to  linger  in  pain,  and  die  early.  The 
necrological  annals  of  this  nation  is  a  melancholy  record.  It 
is  not  diminishing,  but,  on  the  contrary,  increasing  with  the  in- 
crease of  population. 

When  the  celebrated  Spurzheim  was  in  this  country,  he 
fearlessly  declared  in  public,  that  the  legislature  should  inter- 
pose its  authority,  by  interdicting  the  marriage  of  consumptives. 

KISK  IN  MARRIAGE. 

In  cities,  particularly,  ladies  hazard  more  in  entering  upon 
matrimonial  relations  than  in  the  country,  where  the  avenues 
to  vice  are  fewer,  and  dissipations,  generally,  are  frowned  upon 
with  a  severity  that  inaugurates  a  better  system  of  morals. 

Physicians  alone  know  of  the  extent  of  taints  which  fester 
in  the  veins  of  men  in  cities,  who,  perhaps,  are  envied  for  their 
possessions,  their  social  positions,  and  their  influence. 

Men  are  more  prone  to  irregular  lives  than  women.  They 
plunge  into  dissipations,  of  which  their  most  intimate  friends 
have  no  knowledge,  and  contract  diseases,  for  the  relief  of 
which  they  dare  not  consult  their  own  physician,  a§  it  would 
expose  their  doings  where  their  reputation  is  enshrined  in 
gold. 

Quacks  tamper  with  them,  get  their  money,  and  keep  the 
secret.  Being  no  way  qualified  for  medicating  a  patient  with 


446  THE  WATS  OF  WOMEN. 

grave  complaints,  the  canker  that  gnaws  and  undermines  their 
health  is  not  eradicated,  but  a  poison  is  left  behind,  to  annoy 
and  worry  the  sinner  the  remainder  of  his  days. 

A  father,  whose  system  contains  the  seeds  of  an  eruptive  dis- 
ease, a  scrofulous  tendency,  a  syphilitic  taint,  deep-seated  ulcer- 
ations,  unsound  teeth,  an  offensive  breath,  from  internal  causes, 
which  speak  as  plainly  as  such  complaints  can  announce  their 
existence,  will  pretty  certainly  transmit  them  to  his  children. 

Yery  many  women  have  contracted  diseases  from  that 
source,  which  have  made  them  invalids,  and  destroyed  all  the 
comfort  of  life,  without,  perhaps,  ever  suspecting  the  origin  of 
their  protracted  misery. 

Cities  abound  with  showy,  flashy,  fascinating  impostors, 
and  women  are  their  dupes.  Fine  establishments,  fashionable 
appointments,  and  costly  equipages,  however,  are  no  compen- 
sation for  the  loss  of  health.  When  they  become  the  wives  of 
such  men,  they  are  prisoners  in  a  charriel  house. 

A  reformed  rake  is  not  the  material  for  making  a  good  hus- 
band. It  is  the  privilege  of  ladies  to  decide  whom  they  will  have  ; 
but  unless  the  candidate  for  their  hand  and  heart  have  a  char- 
acter as  transparent  as  glass,  it  is  for  their  interest  to  weigh 
every  circumstance  with  extreme  deliberation,  before  saying 
yes  or  no. 

TRANSMISSIBLE  TENDENCY  TO  INSANITY. 

Insanity  is  another  transmissible  misfortune  in  families. 
Beware  of  a  lover  whose  father  or  mother  has  been  a  lunatic. 
Severe  reverses,  loss  of  friends,  peculiar  affliction,  and  unfore- 
seen accidents,  may  give  rise  to  distraction.  Such  forms  of  in- 
sanity are  not  without  hope,  when  the  cause  has  been  removed 
that  gave  rise  to  them,  and  should  not  therefore  be  viewed  in 
the  same  light  as  a  hereditary  predisposition  to  insanity.  Nor 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  447 

need  there  be  an  apprehension  of  a  transmission  of  any  tempor- 
ary cerebral  irregularities,  the  result  of  such  causes. 


BEWARE  OF  A  PREDISPOSITION"  TO  INTEMPERANCE. 

A  transmitted  predisposition  to  suicide,  a  murderous  pro- 
pensity, and  a  morbid  craving  for  strong  stimulants,  are  each 
of  them  elements  that  lead  to  all  imaginable  unhappiness. 
Avoid  them,  therefore,  in  a  lover. 

Ladies  sometimes  marry  men  who  are  known  to  give  mani- 
festations of  those  fearful  conditions,  under  an  impression  that 
they  can  manage  them.  To  marry  an  habitual  drunkard,  when 
the  fact  is  known,  under  an  expectation  of  wielding  an  influ- 
ence that  will  lead  him  to  abandon  a  debasing  vice  out  of 
respect  to  a  wife's  feelings,  is  an  absurdity.  They  have  no 
powers  of  self-restraint,  nor  a  wife  any  influence  with  a 
drinking  husband. 

It  is  an  experiment  without  a  way  of  escape  from  impend- 
ing misery,  shame,  and  degradation,  when  a  lady  of  refinement 
weds  a  dissipated  man.  It  is  a  cruel  wrong  when  friends  match 
youth,  beauty,  health,  and  accomplishments,  from  sordid  motives, 
to  an  old,  shattered  body.  It  is  a-  fearful  plunge  into  an  abyss  of 
misery. 

WEALTH  BUYS  WHAT  CANNOT  BE  WON. 

Such  irrational  marriages  scarcely  differ  in  moral  turpitude 
from  a  direct  sale.  It  is  a  legalized  abomination. 

Property  is  the  object  when  a  blooming  miss  in  her  teens 
weds  an  octogenarian.  If  there  were  no  money  to  be  won  by 
a  game  of  chance — for  it  is  one,  in  which  the  bride  fully  expects 
the  grave  will  quickly  cover  up  the  old  carcass  she  hates — such 
unions  would  not  take  place. 


448  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Ambition  to  be  rich  urges  brilliant  women  to  risk  their 
happiness  on  a  throw  of  a  matrimonial  die.  How  frequently 
the  community  is  astonished  by  such  voluntary  exhibitions  of 
unnatural  alliances, — a  living  woman  chained  to  a  corpse. 

Where  is  the  tenderness,  the  sympathy,  the  religious  sense 
of  honor,  the  instinct  of  love,  when  a  woman  in  the  vigor  and 
aspirations  of  youth  sacrifices  all  at  the  shrine  of  money  ? 

In  commenting  on  the  barbarous  customs  of  the  Orient, 
where  females  are  sold  at  prices  varying  according  to  physical 
attractions,  travellers  invariably  express  their  disgust.  It  is  a 
system  which  Christian  civilization  frowns  upon  with  indigna- 
tion. But  are  there  not  sales  in  the  United  States,  even  more 
extraordinary  ? 

Blue  Beards  are  not  all  dead  yet.  Those  women  in  market, 
waiting  for  the  highest  bidder,  offering  themselves  voluntarily, 
are  neither  sacrifices,  nor  ladies.  They  are  beings  without 
heart,  without  conscience,  or  a  sense  of  religious  accountability 
to  society  or  their  Creator. 

A  lady  is  a  different  being.  When  her  moral  qualities  and 
the  attributes  of  her  gentle  nature  act  in  the  sphere  where  she 
ought  to  move,  she  is  recognized  as  the  best  gift  of  God  to 
man. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
DIVORCES. 

Being  Matched— Too  Easily  Procured — Incompatibility — Progressive  In- 
firmities—  Matrimonial  Bickerings  —  Congeniality — Commercial — Chil- 
dren's Society — Companionship,  etc. 

UNHAPPINESS  in  marriage  is  obviously  on  the  increase; 
lamentably,  too,  in  the  highest  circles  of  intelligence  in  this 
country. 

A  direct  evidence  of  this  statement  is  found  in  the  courts  of 
law  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  forty-fifth 
degree  of  north  latitude  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Demands  for  separation  from  bed  and  board  have  become 
disgracefully  common  all  over  the  United  States.  Neither 
legislators,  divines,  or  moralists,  have  been  successful  in  keep- 
ing the  family  fold  in  that  condition  of  contentment,  which  is 
theoretically,  if  not  practically,  the  basis  on  which  rests  the  in- 
stitution of  marriage. 

* 

BEING  MATCHED. 

When  contracting  parties  are  only  paired,  but  not  lovingly 
matched,  they  become  estranged,  most  unaccountably  to  them- 
selves. Divorces  do  not  appertain  to  any  particular  condition 
of  life.  Clergymen,  lawyers,  physicians,  merchants,  bankers, 
actors,  authors,  the  affluent,  the  tall,  short,  fat,  lean,  and  even 
among  the  industrious,  wealth-producing  classes,  quite  down  to 
cellars  under  sidewalks,  all  have  their  representative  dissatis- 


450  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

fied  applicants  for  relief  from   the  self-imposed  shackles   of 
matrimony. 

So  urgent  is  the  desire  for  emancipation,  by  slipping  their 
necks  out  of  the  conjugal  noose,  enactments  are  undergoing 
modifications  in  several  States  to  facilitate  a  retrograde  pro- 
gress in  Christian  civilization. 

Too  EASILY  PEOCUKED. 

Divorces  are  procured  with  disgraceful  ease,  to  the  amaze- 
ment of  those  who  in.  other  countries  have  been  brought  up  to 
hold  sacred  an  obligation  to  abide  by  a  marital  promise,  to  religi- 
ously hold  out,  for  better  or  for  worse,  till  death  doth  them  part. 

A  facetious  story  went  the  round  not  long  ago,  of  a  Massa- 
chusetts man  who  wrote  to  the  clerk  of  the  Legislature  of 
Indiana,  to  ascertain  why  his  petition  for  a  divorce  had  not  been 
acted  upon.  In  answer,  the  official  wrote  back  it  was  customary 
in  that  body  to  proceed  alphabetically ;  therefore  he  must  not 
be  impatient,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  reach  M  till  late  in 
the  session,  as  they  had  only  reached  B  in  the  regular  order  of 
application. 

INCOMPATIBILITY. 

A  proximate  cause  of  such  incompatibility,  the  generally 
alleged  reason  for  wishing  a  dissolution  of  the  bond,  is 
explained  upon  what  is  called  vital  repugnance. 

There  is  a  kind  of  congenital  uncongeniality,  not  to  be  over- 
come or  subdued  by  any  known  process,  says  a  new  theorist, 
because  there  is  a  difference  in  their  predestined  longevity. 

Thus,  if  a  man  is  twenty  years  the  senior  of  his  wife  at  mar- 
riage, they  may  possibly  sail  over  life's  tempestuous  sea  with 
tolerable  equanimity  a  few  years. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  451 

Going  with  the  tide,  however,  is  not  their  lot.  Both  are 
occasionally  rowing  against  a  strong  current,  without  keeping 
time.  Hence  the  boat  is  swayed,  first,  one  way,  then,  in  an 
opposite  direction,  instead  of  gaining  a  peaceful  harbor,  pro- 
tected from  storms  and  tempest  blasts. 


PROGRESSIVE  INFIRMITIES. 

After  awhile  the  husband  begins  to  exhibit  the  infirmities  of 
age.  Besides,  he  has  gradually  established  certain  fixed  rules 
which,  in  his  long  experience,  are  considered  fundamental 
principles  necessary  for  repose,  for  propriety,  for  happiness ; 
and  it  very  much  ruffles  and  disgusts  him,  too,  if  others  refuse 
to  conform  to  the  routine  of  regulations  he  resolves  to  establish 
in  his  own  household. 

Madam  entertains  widely  different  views  of  the  subject. 
She  comments  upon  his  propositions  as  either  preposterous, 
ridiculous,  or  arbitrary.  He  makes  no  allowance  for  more 
youthful  feelings,  while  the  wife,  on  the  other  hand,  makes 
no  effort  to  conceal  her  dissatisfaction  in  being  obliged  to  humor 
the  caprices  of  old  age. 

MATRIMONIAL  BICKERINGS. 

With  occasional  cutting  remarks  to  the  discomfiture  of 
both,  the  spirit  of  division  obtains  a  foothold.  An  old  husband 
of  a  young  wife  never  inspires  her  with  reverence  for  his  bald 
head  or  gray  hairs.  Love  never  was  an  element  in  the  original 
arrangement.  Both  were  deceived  in  supposing  they  were 
made  for  each  other. 

An  old  man  may  have  wisdom,  judgment,  and  a  handsome 
estate,  but  he  cannot  inspire  love  and  the  warmth  of  affection 


4.52  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

in  a  girl  twenty  or  thirty  years  younger  than  himself.  She 
feels  no  sense  of  companionship  in  his  society. 

While  an  old  husband  is  deteriorating,  and  closing  gradually 
into  smaller  compass,  the  young  wife  is  developing  into  the  ful- 
ness of  commanding  womanhood. 

Keverse  the  circumstances.  The  wife  being  advanced,  no 
longer  throwing  off  those  magnetic  influences  which  are  the 
bonds  of  attraction,  a  want  is  felt ;  but  what  it  is,  words  cannot 
properly  express.  It  is  a  sympathy  only  to  be  engendered 
between  those  nearly  of  the  same  age. 

An  aged  wife,  the  senior  of  the  husband  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
may  be  a  model  woman  in  the  management  of  her  domestic 
duties,  prudent  and  eminently  discreet ;  yet  they  do  not  har- 
monize, though  both  are  good  and  true. 

"When  nearly  of  the  same  age,  their  views,  feelings,  and 
opinions  keep  pace  on  the  same  vital  plane.  One  rarely  acts 
without  the  other  in  anything  of  importance,  or  suggests  a 
measure  which  would  not  be  of  mutual  benefit. 

CONGENIALITY. 

There  is  a  complete  oneness  with  them,  when  appropriately 
brought  together.  That  is  matrimonial  happiness  which  we 
read  about,  but  do  not  as  often  witness  in  real  life  as  might  be 
expected  in  a  Christian  country. 

True  unity  of  soul  is  the  foundation  of  all  the  felicity  found 
in  marriage.  In  that  delightful  realization  of  what  actually 
belongs  to  marital  relations,  of  which  affection  is  the  bond  of 
union,  one  party  has  not  a  longer  expectation  of  life  than  the 
other, — an  unconscious  harmony  which,  nevertheless,  has  a 
direct  influence  on  their  mental  and  physical  organization. 

With  such  a  pleasant  preparation  for  travelling  together  on 
the  highway  of  coming  years,  marriage  is  a  divine  institution. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  453 

Two  merchants  of  nearly  the  same  age  agree  together  far 
better  in  their  business  affairs,  than  when  there  is  considerable 
difference  in  their  probable  tenure  of  life — all  other  things 
being  equal. 

COMMERCIAL  RELATIONS. 

Some  of  the  oldest  and  strongest  commercial  houses  were 
established  by  youthful  partners,  whose  plans,  operations,  and 
methods  of  conducting  their  enterprises  were  results  of  seeing 
objects  from  the  beginning  alike,  because  both  were  alike  im- 
pressed by  the  same  surrounding  influences. 

Old  capitalists  in  business  rarely  proceed  so  smoothly  with 
a  young  man  as  with  one  of  their  own  age.  A  reason  is  sought 
for  in  that  natural  law  of  correspondence  which  is  recognized 
in  various  relations,  but  which  is  extremely  difficult  to  eluci- 
date. There  is  a  parallelism  in  thought,  in  reasoning  processes, 
and  a  unity  of  feeling,  in  those  of  nearly  the  same  age.  Having 
lived  about  the  same  number  of  years,  they  reckon  from  the 
same  events  and  epochs. 


CHILDREN  REQUIRE  THE  SOCIETY  OF  CHILDREN-. 

Children .  require  the  companionship  of  children.  They 
never  establish  the  same  kind  of  familiarity  with  grown-up 
persons  as  they  do  with  those  of  their  own  mental  calibre. 

Impressions  from  common  objects  strike  them  so  differently. 
The  conversation  of  an  infant  is  insipid  to  a  man  of  years,  while 
the  chat  of  the  latter  is  totally  beyond  the  comprehension  of  a 
little  prattler  at  his  elbow. 

Domesticated  animals,  to  an  observable  degree,  are  influ- 
enced by  the  same  law  of  association.  An  old  ox  takes  no 
interest  in  a  calf,  but  lows  at  the  sight  of  a  distant  herd.  Old 


454  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

dogs  hardly  tolerate  the  pranks  of  puppies.  Cows  covet  the 
company  of  cows,  and  old  singing-birds  appear  to  have  pleasure 
in  the  society  of  those  similar  to  themselves. 

COMPANIONSHIP  OF  ANIMALS. 

Some  animals  form  a  warm  attachment  for  each  other,  pro- 
vided they  have  been  a  considerable  while  together ;  but  they  are 
not  particular  in  expressions  of  friendship,  if  they  associate  late 
in  life. 

Coach-horses,  after  having  been  accustomed  to  work  in  the 
same  carriage,  upon  being  put  in  adjoining  stalls,  become  exces- 
sively uneasy  when  separated,  and  exhibit  gratification  in  their 
whinnyings  of  recognition  in  being  again  harnessed  in  the  old 
way. 

Two  cows  pastured  in  the  same  field,  or  stalled  in  the  same 
stable,  or  two  oxen  accustomed  to  the  same  yoke,  exhibit  very 
decided  uneasiness  on  being  separated.  Their  nervous  watch- 
fulness, vigilance,  and  frequent  calls  at  the  top  of  their  voice,  is 
a  language  that  denotes  the  violence  done  to  their  attachment 
to  an  old  friend. 

A  young  weaned  colt  cares  but  little  for  a  sedate  horse ;  nor 
does  a  spavined  hack  in  a  dirt-cart  covet  the  society  of  antic 
nags,  even  when  at  large  in  a  broad  enclosure.  Kittens  are 
repulsed  by  sober  cats.  They  may  tolerate  their  presence ;  but 
when  they  begin  to  take  liberties  in  their  mischievous  capers,  a 
growl,  or  a  blow  with  a  sharp  claw  admonishes  them  not  to 
presume  upon  the  gravity  of  their  seniors. 

BEPTILES  WITHOUT  ATTACHMENT. 

Reptiles  do  not  appear  to  possess  social  feelings.  Neither 
do  voracious  fishes,  as  sharks,  wolf-fish,  etc.  On  the  contrary, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  455 

cod,  haddock,  mackerel,  and  many  other  tribes  are  sociable,  and 
range  in  company  over  their  feeding-ground,  and  migrate  in 
immense  armies  for  mutual  protection  and  society. 

Whales  are  social  in  their  nature,  also,  as  porpoises  are; 
both  swimming  amicably  together  in  their  pastimes,  or  in 
pursuit  of  food. 

Whales,  after  all,  are  not  fish.  They  belong  to  the  mam- 
malia. They  breathe  air  exclusively,  and  suckle  their  young. 

When  aged  men  or  women  advanced  in  the  vale  of  years 
marry  those  younger  than  themselves  by  many  years,  it  is  not 
only  a  gross  mistake,  but  it  is  also  a  violation  of  a  natural  law. 
It  is  as  true  in  social  science  as  in  homoeopathy,  that  like  cures 
like.  In  other  words,  a  condition  in  age,  experience,  and  force 
of  vitality,  is  essential  to  that  happiness  which  is  the  incentive 
for  assuming  the  legal  and  all  other  responsibilities  appertain- 
ing to  marriage.  Discrepancies  in  those  respects  are  sure  to 
eventuate  in  certain  disappointment  and  marital  wretchedness, 
where  neither  one  is  influenced  by  a  highly  developed  religious 
sentiment  of  accountability. 

Who  can  doubt  that  the  friction  of  a  wounded  spirit,  chafed 
and  fretted  by  an  uncongenial  marriage,  must  be  productive  of 
intensified  mental  misery  ? 

Who  does  not  believe,  also,  that  where  a  man  and  woman  of 
suitable  age,  of  cultivated  intellect,  refined  in  character,  are  lov- 
ingly united,  they  will  find  all  that  calm,  ennobling  realization 
of  their  expectations  in  that  relation  ? 

In  a  felicitous  marriage,  longevity  is  promoted,  health  is  bet- 
ter secured,  and  if  heaven  is  ever  found  on  earth,  it  is  in  the 
home  of  such  a  family. 


456  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

INDISCREET  MARRIAGES. 

"When  a  young  woman  marries  an  aged  man,  she  perils  her 
health, — possibly,  her  life.  He  will  improve,  because  his  sys- 
tem will  imbibe  her  vitality.  If  some  ladies  have  sufficient  vi- 
tality accumulating,  to  bear  the  draft  of  what  may  be  called  ab- 
sorption of  life,  a  few  years,  they  may  outlive  the  old  husband. 
Ten  fall  by  the  way,  however,  where  one  survives. 

And  in  those  cases,  if  it  could  be  fairly  explained  how  she 
escaped  the  penalty  of  a  violated  law,  it  would  unquestionably 
be  due  to  an  estrangement, — protecting  herself  by  not  being 
within  the  reach  or  magnetic  conducting  force  of  the  body 
which  would  otherwise  have  received  her  vitality. 

Reverse  the  conditions,  and  a  young  man  would  peril  him- 
self precisely  in  the  same  way. 

Such  are.  the  mainsprings  of  life,  subtle  and  incomprehensi- 
ble, but  they  are  the  laws  that  influence  and  govern  humanity 
in  every  country. 


CHAPTEK  XXXVII. 
THE  LONGEVITY  OF  WOMEN. 

Life  a  Precious  Boon — Modifications  of  the  Penal  Code — Experiments — Mind 
Independent  of  Body — Suicide  a  Crime — Women  in  their  Desperation — 
Women  Live  Longer  than  Men — Have  Better  Habits — Life  Limitation 
— Pulse — Life  Insurance  Positions — As  Cultivators. 

A  DREAD  of  death  is  implanted  in  every  human  breast. 
Even  creeping  insects  have  an  instinctive  apprehension  of  fatal 
consequences,  attending  exposures  to  superior  force. 

A  small  animal  is  in  fear  of  a  large  one.  It  is 'a  feeling 
that  cannot  be  overcome,  because  it  is  incorporated  with  their 
nature  as  a  safeguard  to  inspire  vigilance  for  self-preservation. 
Otherwise,  unapprehensive  of  impending  dangers,  and  regard- 
less of  consequences  from  a  relaxation  of  that  sentinel  sense, 
they,  and  man  too,  with  all  his  calculating  faculties,  seeing  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  in  his  reasoning  from  cause  to  effect, 
would  heedlessly  plunge  into  a  vortex  where  certain  destruction 
was  inevitable,  as  he  would  lie  down  upon  a  soft  couch  for 
repose. 

Life  is  a  boon  too  precious  to  be  neglected,  or  carelessly 
thrown  away.  It  is  an  imperative  duty  to  live  as  long  as  we 
can,  and  in  all  Christian  nations  it  is  considered  a  crime  to  volun- 
tarily destroy  ourselves  or  others. 

A  doctrine  is  obtaining  rapidly,  the  advocates  of  which  are 
already  numerous,  that  God,  who  gave  life,  has  alone  the  right 
to  take  it  away.  • 

Yery  marked  modifications  of  the  penal  code  have  not  only 


4-58  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

already  been  effected  through,  the  spreading  influence  of  disbe- 
lievers, in  the  necessity  or  right  to  inflict  capital  punishment, 
and  still  further  alterations  may  be  anticipated. 

Starting  with  that  proposition,  relaxing  the  severities  of 
punishment  for  several  very  common  crimes  within  the  last  few 
years, — they  are  not  as  frequent  as  they  were.  A  further  re- 
duction of  legal  cruelties,  unworthy  an  age  of  elevated  Chris- 
tian advancement,  will  prove  a  surer  remedy  than  hanging  on  a 
gallows. 

Extreme  cases,  characterized  by  atrocious  barbarities,  and 
premeditated  wickedness  of  the  perpetrator,  should  be  placed 
beyond  the  control  of  executive  pardoning  powers.  A  perpet- 
ual imprisonment,  wholly  and  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  a 
governor  or  a  president,  would  be  so  terrific  as  to  restrain  those 
who  have  entertained  an  expectation  of  freedom  at  last,  even 
under  a  life  sentence. 

Perpetual  incarceration,  without  the  possibility  of  ever  being 
again  restored  to  freedom,  would  be  dreaded  far  more  intensely 
by  great  criminals,  than  a  public  execution. 

When  it  was  announced  to  the  first  murderer  that,  instead 
of  being  put  to  death,  he  should  live,  and  seven-fold  vengeance 
be  the  penalty  of  any  one  who  injured  him, — a  mark  being 
fixed  on  his  person  that  he  might  be  recognized  as  under  an 
awful  sentence,  the  wretched  Cain  exclaimed  that  his  punish- 
ment was  greater  than  he  could  bear. 

Inquisitive  physiological  experimenters  have  interrogated 
nature  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  whether  life  departs  in- 
stantaneously with  a  stoppage  of  the  vital  machinery. 

When  a  person  has  been  shot  through  the  head,  heart,  or 
the  solar  or  semi-lunar  plexuses  in  front  of  the  spine  below  the 
diaphragm,  does  consciousness  linger  awhile  and  then  gradu- 
ally take  a  final  departure,  or  is  death  instantaneous  ? 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  459 

Every  muscle  has  a  special  life  endowment  of  its  own,  quite 
independent  of  the  will.  After  being  lacerated,  and,  indeed, 
after  being  separated  from  its  connections,  while  there  is  con- 
tractility remaining,  there  is  life  in  it. 

Chemical  decomposition  is  the  only  certain  evidence  of 
death. 

The  conscious  soul  exhibits  its  peculiar  properties  through 
the  instrumentality  of  an  organized  body.  In  drowning,  con- 
siderable time  evidently  elapses  before  life  is  extinct.  Re- 
markable cases  of  suspended  animation  incontestably  prove 
that,  if  the  soul  had  departed  on  its  never-ending  mission  to 
eternity,  it  was  actually  recalled  back  again  by  the  appliances 
of  art. 

In  drowning,  the  union  of  body  and  mind  is  gradually  dis- 
solved ;  but  it  may  be  interrupted  and  death  prevented,  by 
manipulations  that  set  the  vital  machinery  again  in  motion. 

The  mind,  therefore,  is  there  for  a  while ;  and  it  is  probable 
the  same  condition  exists  in  decapitations.  But  violence  inflicted 
on  those  highly-vitalized  instruments  by  which  it  manifests 
itself  in  life,  is  a  shock  dissolving  instantly  the  connection 
between  body  and  mind. 

With  the  escape  of  arterial  blood  in  a  gash,  in  cutting  sud- 
denly through  the  neck,  the  brain  is  deprived  of  the  material 
it  must  have  to  act  at  all ;  and  hence  death  speedily  follows, 
though  there  may  be  an  instant  or  two  of  distinct  conscious- 
ness. The  Paris  savans  represent  a  decapitated  head  as  en- 
gaged in  thinking  for  a  short  space  of  time,  deprived  of  the 
ability  of  expressing  its  wishes. 

There  are  conditions  in  which  all  are  cowards.  Men  may 
fight  bravely,  face  the  king  of  terrors  at  the  muzzle  of  a 
cannon  ;  but,  when  raising  a  weapon  for  destroying  their  own 
lives,  it  is  with  fear  and  trembling. 


460  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

If  ever  suicide  is  accomplished  with  a  firm,  unflinching  will 
and  a  steady  hand,  it  is  charitable  to  suppose  the  individual 
absolutely  insane ;  because  the  act  is  a  notorious  violation  of 
the  strongest  instinct  of  his  nature. 

Women  in  their  distraction  wildly  perform  deeds  of 
desperation  against  themselves.  They  leap  into  abysses  of 
misery  to  avoid  a  foreseen  disgrace.  Nothing  so  nerves  them 
to  face  the  dreadful  alternative  of  death  or  shame,  as  question- 
ing their  moral  purity.  What  is  life  to  them  without  the  con- 
sciousness of  unsullied  virtue  ? 

That  is  the  question  with  a  woman  nurtured  in  a  religious 
belief  of  rewards  and  punishments  in  a  future  state ;  and  hence, 
among  professing  Christians,  examples  of  self-destruction  of  fe- 
males are  more  common  than  in  pagan  or  Mahometan  countries. 

Pagan  and  Mahometan  women  rarely  commit  suicide. 
Education,  therefore,  shapes  the  mind,  and  plants  deep  down  in 
the  recesses  of  the  heart,  those  principles  wrhich  both  govern 
and  direct  them  in  their  social  intercourse. 

Whatever  is  instilled  into  the  mental  constitution  of  the 
girl  remains  there  through  all  the  meanderings  of  after  years  : 
so  certain  is  it  that,  as  the  twig  is  bent,  so  the  tree  inclines. 

Inquiries  into  the  physical  signs  of  longevity  in  man  fully 
confirm  the  opinion  that  women,  on  an  average,  live  longer 
than  men.* 

They  are  less  exposed  to  dangers  which  sweep  off  men  and 

*  Professor  Faraday  lias  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  all  who  die  before 
they  are  a  hundred  years  old,  may  be  justly  charged  with  self-murder  ;  that 
Providence,  having  originally  intended  man  to  live  a  century,  would  allow 
him  to  do  so  if  he  did  not  kill  himself  by  eating  unwholesome  food,  allow- 
ing himself  to  be  annoyed  by  trifles,  giving  license  to  passion  and  exposing 
himself  to  accident.  The  French  savan,  Flourin,  advanced  the  theory  that 
the  duration  of  life  is  measured  by  the  time  of  growth.  When  the  bones' 
epiphysis  are  united,  the  body  grows  no  more,  and  it  is  at  twenty  years  that 
this  union  is  effected  in  man.  The  natural  termination  of  life  is  five  re- 
moves from  the  several  points.  Man,  being  twenty  years  in  growing,  lives, 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  461 

boys  at  sea,  in  armies,  mines,  manufacturing  establishments  at- 
tended with  perils,  as  the  making  of  gunpowder,  explosive 
cotton,  nitro-glycerine ;  and  in  various  circumstances  of  peculiar 
contingencies,  to  which  females  are  rarely,  if  ever,  subjected. 

Then  again,  women,  as  a  body,  always  have  better  habits, 
and  better  morals, — a  sentiment  often  repeated  in  the  pages  of 
this  volume.  Their  vitality  is  not  wasted  in  midnight  carousals, 
nor  are  they  guilty  of  enervating  vices,  which  kill  off  men 
frightfully  fast,  of  which  little  is  known  out  of  the  confidential 
circle  of  the  medical  profession. 

They  commence  life  under  more  favorable  circumstances,  in 
some  respects,  in  regard  to  the  preservation  of  health,  which 
thousands  of  them  fritter  away  prematurely,  in  coming  into 
womanhood.  Still,  more  women  live  to  very  old  age  than  men. 

An  examination  of  a  family's  necrological  record,  if  care- 
fully kept,  discloses  some  curious  facts  illustrative  of  the  tena- 
city of  life  in  females  who  have  escaped  the  tortures  imposed 
upon  the  fashionable  sisterhood. 

Constant  practice  in  the  examination  of  applicants  for  life 
insurance  has  enabled  medical  examiners  to  arrive  at  certain 
interesting  conclusions  respecting  the  death  period  of  women, 
which  had  escaped  notice  before  those  investigations  were 
instituted. 

Limited  as  may  be  our  knowledge  of  vital  force,  enough  has 
been  ascertained  for  the  construction  of  tables  of  expectances. 
That  is,  if  a  person  has  arrived  at  any  particular  age,  it  is 
expected  he  or  she  may  live  a  certain  number  of  years  from 
that  date. 

Physicians  make  mistakes  in  their  estimates  of  the  value  of 
life,  as  well  as  others  not  supposed  to  be  as  well  informed  in 

or  should,  five  times  twenty  years  ;  the  camel  is  eight  years  in  growing,  and 
lives  five  times  eight  years  ;  the  horse  is  five  years  in  growing,  and  lives 
twenty-five  years,  and  so  on  with  other  animals. 


462  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

regard  to  the  probabilities  of  life ;  but  they  are  progressing, 
becoming  more  critical,  and  more  accurate  also,  in  their  investi- 
gations. Their  ears  and  the  sense  of  touch  are  being  educated 
with  reference  to  discriminating,  with  precision,  between  normal 
and  abnormal  sounds  of  the  heart.  When  careful  in  their 
examinations,  it  is  surprising  with  what  success  and  readiness 
they  detect  irregularities  in  the  circulation,  that  would  escape 
the  attention  of  those  inexperienced  in  those  pursuits. 

Unfavorable  conditions  of  the  heart,  the  lungs,  kidneys,  etc., 
require  a  very  nice  perception  of  variations  from  their  action  in 
health  or  disease. 

Those  organs  are  exceedingly  over-worked,  and,  therefore, 
driven  into  a  degree  of  unnatural  activity  by  the  habits,  bad 
customs,  imagined  business  demands,  and  vices  of  the  times ; 
and  the  consequence  is,  an  increased  mortality  from  those 
sources,  quite  rare  among  our  old-fashioned  ancestors,  who  pro- 
ceeded with  moderation  in  their  affairs. 

A  hurried  pulse,  far  above  the  ordinary  beats  of  the  heart, 
when  the  expenditure  of  vital  force  is  in  equipoise  with  the 
ratio  of  supply,  tends  to  injury.  We  are  constituted  for  excite- 
ments. If  not  too  long  continued,  no  injury  accrues.  But 
when  the  tension  is  kept  up  continuously,  too  long,  the  next 
phase  is  debility. 

A  preparation  for  being  examined  for  a  life  policy  some- 
times quickens  the  pulse  exceedingly  ;  and  one  not  accustomed 
to  the  sudden  changes  which  emotions  of  the  mind  may  produce, 
is  liable  to  grave  mistakes. 

Medical  gentlemen  are  occasionally  blamed  for  mistakes,  as 
though  they  were,  or  at  least  ought  to  be,  infallible,  when  in 
the  service  of  insurance  institutions,  trust  companies,  and  the 
like,  where  professional  opinions  are  required  in  granting  their 
favors. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  463 

Those  who  have  passed  through  a  tedious  professional  pre- 
paration for  being  eminently  qualified  to  discriminate  one  sound 
from  another,  or  determine  by  pressure  at  the  tip  of  a  finger, 
whether  an  applicant  for  life  insurance  may  live  ten  years,  or 
expire,  in  all  human  probability,  in  ten  days,  are  attended  with 
painful  anxieties,  and  environed  by  more  responsibilities  than 
officers  of  such  institutions  recognize. 

Unfortunately,  for  the  honor  of  the  medical  profession,  the 
qualifications  of  medical  officers  are  decided  upon  by  persons 
who  have  not  the  requisite  knowledge  of  the  value  of  science 
for  guiding  them  in  a  choice.  A  blockhead  is  quite  as  often 
chosen  to  a  responsible  professional  position,  as  a  man  of 
superior  attainments.  A  pecuniary  influence,  or  relationship  to 
one  of  the  directors  or  an  influential  stockholder,  may  decide  an 
appointment.  Is  merit  ignored  ?  This  declaration  is  abund- 
antly sustained  in  looking  at  the  names  of  some  who  are  the 
best  bowers  of  many  life-offices,  but  who  could  not  pass  an 
examination  for  the  position  of  a  village  pedagogue. 

Admitting  the  capacity  of  women  for  occupying  all  places, 
and  for  engaging  in  almost  all  pursuits  heretofore  considered 
the  special  properties  of  men,  the  further  we  proceed  the  more 
openings  seem  to  present  for  them. 

It  is  not  desirable  that  they  should  unsex  themselves  for  the 
sake  of  employments  which  in  ages  past  have  been  denied  them. 
It  is  by  no  means  necessary  that  they  should  ride  a  horse  like  a 
moss-trooper,  tend  saw-mills,  hew  stone,  labor  in  quarries,  coal- 
mines, iron-foundries,  or  anywhere  in  which  their  presence 
would  be  inappropriate. 

"Women  may  be  admirable  gardeners,  florists,  fruit-growers, 
wool-raisers,  cultivate  vineyards,  or,  indeed,  as  many  of  them 
do,  carry  on  extensive  farming  operations.  Fruits  have  always 
commanded  good  prices  ;  the  demand,  thus  far,  has  been  greater 
than  the  supply.  They  are  wanted  everywhere. 


464:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Having  a  natural  aptitude  for  horticultural  industry,  and  a 
delicate  taste  in  selecting  and  directing,  what  fortunes  are  in 
reserve  for  those  who  early  embark  in  those  employments  ! 

Berries,  poultry,  honey-bees,  piscatory  economy,  all  of  which 
may  be  conducted  on  a  few  acres  of  ground,  present  an  inviting 
field  for  the  display  of  female  energy,  enterprise,  and  praise- 
worthy example. 

Women  need  not  necessarily  lose  caste  among  the  refined  of 
their  own  sex,  become  rough  in  manner,  or  demoralized  by 
coming  in  contact  with  mother  earth.  Their  figures  will 
neither  become  gross,  their  features  less  attractive,  their  charms 
deteriorate,  or  their  beauty  fade  any  sooner  for  identifying 
themselves  with  the  culture  of  fruits,  flowers,  wheat,  or  wool. 

People  will  have  luxuries  if  they  go  without  necessaries. 
Among  profitable  pursuits  for  females,  requiring  neither  un- 
pleasant associations  nor  hard  labor,  is  honey-making.  One 
woman  could  easily  manage  one  hundred  hives.  Even  one,  not 
occupying  a  square  yard  of  ground,  would  supply  thirty,  forty, 
and  up  to  sixty  pounds  of  honey  in  a  single  season,  if  carefully 
superintended. 

Let  one  thousand  females  embark  in  apiarian  enterprises  any- 
where, and  without  the  least  regard  to  the  quality  of  the  soil  or 
its  capacity  for  yielding  flowers.  Bees  collect  honey  from  great 
distances,  and  store  it  wherever  we  direct.  What  wealth  would 
be  accumulated  by  that  one  thousand  operators  in  honey  ! 

There  are  more  flowers  in  yards,  windows,  open  conserva- 
tories, parks,  and  highways  in  most  cities,  than  in  four  times 
the  same  area  of  land  in  the  country.  Even  if  there  were  not, 
a  single  flower  within  five  miles  of  an  apiary  would  be  found 
and  regularly  visited  by  city  bees.  Therefore,  rear  them  in 
cities  if  the  cultivator  has  a  stationary  home. 

The  experiment  has  been  tried,  and  crowned  with  entire 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  405 

success,  even  when  the  hive  was  kept  within  a  cool  part  of  the 
building,  and  the  foraging  insects  went  out  and  in  through 
walls. 

Throughout  the  country  there  is  not  a  poor  widow,  a  forlorn 
spinster,  or  an  idle  woman,  who  cannot  descend  to  pursuits  be- 
low the  estimate  she  places  upon  her  social  position,  who  might 
not  have  a  pleasant  revenue  from  this  delightful  employment 
of  honey-raising. 

Throughout  continental  Europe,  peasant  women  are  ac- 
customed to  labor  in  the  field  side  by  side  with  men.  They 
have  the  same  organic  structure,  functional  peculiarities,  in- 
stincts, and  necessities  of  the  most  elevated  of  the  sex,  yet  they 
are  quite  overlooked  in  researches  for  physical  signs  of  incapa- 
city for  such  lives  as  they  lead. 

Because  women  can  endure  hardships,  can  labor,  lift,  dig, 
saw,  carry  burdens,  and  drive  teams,  it  is  not  an  argument  in 
favor  of  obliging  them  to  do  so,  neither  does  it  accord  with  our 
civilization  not  to  attempt  relieving  them. 

Studying  their  condition  at  every  step,  from  the  lowest  to 
the  highest  round  in  the  ascending  ladder  of  life,  in  all  countries, 
the  conclusion  arrived  at,  in  reference  to  their  longevity,  is 
this :  that  more  women  live  beyond  a  century  than  men,  their 
circumstances,  ceteris  parilus^  being  equal.  Both,  however^ 
in  communities  most  distinguished  for  culture  and  intelli- 
gence, fall  far  short  of  the  years  they  would  have  attained  to, 
had  they  not  violated  many  immutable  laws  of  health. 

Public  registers  abound  with  notices  of  men  and  women 
who  have  lived  far  beyond  the  supposed  ordinary  limit  of 
human  life,  on  the  presumption  that  threescore  and  ten  is  the 
doomed  measure  of  our  days. 

The  more  quiet,  unobtrusive,  and  less  exposed  way  of  life  of 
women  is  favorable  to  their  longevity.  They  are  rarely  sub- 


466  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

jected  to  those  sudden  assaults  upon  the  constitution,  those  fric- 
tions of  a  rude  world,  or  those  personal  contentions,  which 
wear  away  men.  As  they  are  rarely  exposed  to  storms,  or 
called  upon  to  test  the  strength  of  their  muscles,  or  perplex 
their  brains  with  problems  and  difficulties  which  break  down 
strong  men  prematurely,  their  chance  for  prolonged  life  is 
better. 

Individuals  pass  through  dreadful  trials  of  body  and  mind, 
and  thousands  of  females  throng  madhouses,  the  victims  of 
cruelty  and  oppression ;  but,  as  a  whole,  the  expectation  of 
life  is  altogether  in  their  favor. 

Women  are  less  corrupt  than  men,  even  when  wickedly 
debased  by  vicious  associations.  They  think  less  evil,  avoid 
polluting  influences,  and  thus  are  secured  from  many  direct 
causes  of  premature  death. 

"Were  it  not  for  wandering  too  far  into  the  regions  of 
antiquity,  illustrations  of  prevailing  opinions,  that  females  had 
a  peculiar  tenacity  of  life,  might  be  gathered.  But  we  ascribe 
what  in  the  olden  time  was  thought  an  extraordinary  endow- 
ment of  vitality,  to  their  habitual  sobriety,  propriety,  and 
happy  exemption  from  turmoils  and  excitements  that  wear  out 
men. 

The  book  of  Genesis  gives  a  narrative  of  the  old  age  of 
Sarah,  and  a  remarkable  physiological  revolution  in  her  system, 
perhaps  hardly  ever  paralleled  since.  Becoming  a  mother  in 
extreme  old  age,  is  by  no  means  a  common  occurrence.* 

*  Mr.  W.  J.  Thorns'  new  book,  "  Human  Longevity  :  Its  Facts  and  its 
Fictions,"  demolishes  the  pretensions  of  many  of  the  marvellous  "  old  men  " 
of  tradition  to  have  lived  a  century  and  upward.  He  clearly  proves  that 
"  Old  Parr,"  Jenkins,  and  the  Countess  of  Desmond,  who  are  reputed  to  have 
survived  to  140  or  upward,  are  cases  of  longevity  resting  upon  no  positive 
evidence.  He  demonstrates  that  the  ages  of  a  more  modern  series  of  cen- 
tenarians were  as  follows  : — Mary  Billinge,  not  112,  but  91 ;  Jonathan 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Erythea,  the  Sybil,  says  that  Phlegon  lived  ten  hundred 
years.  In  the  writings  of  Matthew  Paris,  it  is  asserted  that  the 
Wandering  Jew  was  recognized  in  1229.  Next,  copying  the 
story  of  a  man  who,  at  the  age  of  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
five,  was  brought  into  the  august  presence  of  Lopez  de  Caste- 
nada,  while  viceroy  of  India,  and  similar  extravagant  legends, 
a  formidable  array  of  strange  biographies  might  be  collected. 
They  are  of  no  value,  being  curiosities  of  history,  once  believed 
to  be  true,  when  a  few  monks  wrote  for  the  astonishment  of 
ignorant,  superstitious  millions. 

Whether  persons  in  modern  times  have  attained  patriarchal 
longevity,  admits  of  a  reasonable  doubt.  However,  there  are 
exceptions  to  general  laws ;  and  whenever  a  man  or  a  woman 
passes  beyond  one  hundred  years,  their  vitality  must  have  been 
remarkable. 

Henry  Jenkins,  who  in  his  twelfth  year  led  a  horse  laden 
with  arrows  to  the  battlefield  of  Flodden,  reached  the  age 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  years.  This  case  seems  well  authen- 
ticated, as  the  record  of  his  burial  by  a  national  subscription 
gave  extensive  notoriety  to  his  extraordinary  longevity. 

Thomas  Parr  died  at  one  hundred  and  fifty-two.  He  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  That  circumstance  shows  the 
deep  public  interest  in  the  fact  that  he  had  reached  an  age  that 
created  universal  surprise,  and,  therefore,  he  was  entombed 
within  the  sacred  edifice,  where  none  but  memorable  persons 
were  honored  in  death. 

Reeves,  not  104,  but  80 ;  Mary  Downton,  not  106,  but  100 ;  Joshua  Miller, 
not  111,  but  90  ;  George  Fletcher,  not  108,  but  92  ;  George  Smith,  not  105, 
but  95  ;  Edward  Couch,  not  110,  but  95  ;  William  Webb,  not  105,  but  95  ; 
John  Dawe,  not  116,  but  87  ;  George  Brewer,  not  106,  but  98  ;  Mary  Hicks, 
not  104,  but  97.  Besides  these,  a  few  other  cases  are  introduced,  of  which 
all  that  the  author  can  show  is,  that  there  is  no  convincing  evidence  of  the 
asserted  age. — He  admits  only  two  as  proven  out  of  the  long  roll  of  news- 
paper centenarians.  We  have  facts  to  confute  Mr.  Thorn. 


468  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

When  Philip  d'Herbelot  was  one  hundred  and  fourteen,  he 
presented  a  bouquet  to  Louis  XIY.  on  his  birthday.  •  "  What 
have  you  done,"  asked  his  majesty,  "  to  have  reached  so  great 
an  age  ? "  The  old  man  replied,  being  then  a  government  pen- 
sioner, "  From  the  age  of  fifty,  please  your  majesty,  I  have 
shut  my  heart  and  opened  my  cellar." 

While  the  National  Assembly  of  France  was  in  session, 
October  23d,  1789,  a  man  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  was  announced.  All  the  members  rose  as  he  entered. 
Amidst  a  whirlwind  of  applause  he  walked  to  an  arm-chair  in 
front  of  the  secretaries.  He  then  presented  a  certificate  of  his 
baptism,  proving  his  birth  at  St.  Sobin,  October  10,  1669.  By 
manual  labor  he  had  supported  himself  till  the  expiration  of  a 
century.  A  pension  of  two  hundred  livres  per  annum  was  then 
granted  by  the  king.  A  contribution  was  voted  him,  and  the 
old  man  was  lodged  at  the  public  expense  in  the  Patriotic 
School.  Pupils  of  all  ranks  waited  upon  him. 

When  Napoleon  I.  was  first  consul,  he  decorated  two  men 
on  the  same  occasion,  who  were  one  hundred  years  old,  before 
an  immense  concourse  of  people. 

At  an  inauguration  of  an  equestrian  statue  of  Louis  XIV., 
at  the  Palace  of  Victories,  Aug.  20,  1822,  Pierre  Huet,  called 
the  father  of  the  French  army,  was  present, — being  one  hun- 
dred and  sixteen.  His  countenance  was  venerable,  his  voice 
sonorous,  and  a  flowing  white  beard  gave  dignity  to  his  appear- 
ance. He  had  been  a  cotemporary  of  the  king,  whose  reign  the 
Bourbon  dynasty  were  commemorating. 

Dr.  Barnes,  of  Edinburgh,  gives  a  narrative  of  Kobert 
Bom  an,  in  the  Philosophical  Journal  of  that  city,  who  lived  to 
be  one  hundred  and  fifteen.  He  distinctly  remembered  the  re- 
bellion of  1Y14.  Among  other  curious  recollections,  he  re- 
membered when  barley  was  three  shillings  for  a  Carlisle  bushel ; 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  469 

oats,  eighteen  pence  ;  butter,  three  pence  a  pound  ;  and  eggs,  a 
penny  a  dozen.  His  food  had  been  principally  milk,  but  he 
partook  of  whatever  food  was  prepared  for  the  family.  Nei- 
ther tea,  coffee,  or  tobacco  was  ever  used  by  him.  When  hun- 
gry, he  ate ;  retired  early  to  bed,  when  sleepy,  but  had  no  fixed 
habits. 

The  foregoing  cases  of  extreme  longevity  have  been  cited 
to  show  that  well  authenticated  cases  are  numerous,  of  life  be- 
ing prolonged  beyond  a  century,  which  has  been  questioned 
very  frequently  of  late.  But  a  few  only,  one  in  millions  upon 
millions,  have  had  such  vitality. 

We  could  show,  with  equal  certainty,  that  more  females 
have  reached  an  uncommon  longevity  than  males.  A  very  few 
have  considerably  passed  one  hundred  years,  one  hundred  and 
ten,  one  hundred  and  twenty ;  and  the  Countess  of  Desmond, 
one  hundred  and  forty-two  ! 

In  the  course  of  one  century,  one  man  in  many  millions 
may  arrive  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  years,  while  within  the 
same  period  more  women  live  to  a  full  century  than  men. 

Among  the  Pension  Office  records,  at  Washington,  on  a  list 
of  twenty-one  surviving  soldiers  of  the  Revolution,  a  few  years 
since,  eighteen  of  them  had  reached  100  years,  and  upwards. 
There  were  five  who  were  passed  101 ;  four,  102 ;  two,  103 ; 
two,  105  ;  two,  106,  and  one,  109. 

In  the  catalogue  of  widows  of  revolutionary  soldiers,  draw- 
ing pensions,  there  were  twenty  who  were  100  years  old,  and 
eleven  who  were  97.  Dinah  Vick,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  died 
1871,  at  the  age  of  109.  The  oldest  person  drawing  a  pension 
was  Chloa  Flatford,  Virginia,  who  died  at  116.  The  next  per- 
son was  Charity  Flindman,  of  West  Yirginia,  who  was  112. 

The  Southern  States  offer  more  examples  of  extreme  lon- 
gevity than  the  Northern.  Mrs.  McDonald,  of  Tennessee,  died 


470  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

at  106 ;  Mrs.  Shaw,  of  New  Orleans,  at  107 ;  Mrs.  Thrasher,  of 
Georgia,  103;  Mrs.  Trucker,  of  !N".  Carolina,  109,  and  Mrs. 
Harris,  of  Georgia,  101.* 

"Were  it  possible,  at  this  moment,  to  gather  a  catalogue  of 
the  oldest  persons,  now  living,  the  largest  number  of  the  whole 
would  probably  be  females. 

~Ko  particular  system  of  diet  is  superior  to  another,  accord- 
ing to  the  histories  of  those  who  have  had  such  long  leases  of 
life. 

There  is  another  chronicle  of  men  and  women  who  have  vio- 
lated all  the  common  laws  of  health,  having  been  as  irregular 
and  erratic  as  the  wind,  whose  longevity  equalled  those  who 
conformed  to  all  the  requirements  of  a  well-regulated  life. 

Donald  McDonald,  about  forty  years  ago,  was  sent  to  the 
House  of  Correction,  in  Boston,  because  he  was  intemperate 
and  quarrelsome,  being  then  one  hundred  and  seven  years  old ! 
His  father  died  in  Scotland  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-seven,  in  consequence  of  an  injury  to  the  spine,  by  fall- 
ing down  stairs. 

Who  can  doubt  the  transmission  of  vitality  or  vital  force 
from  parent  to  child  ? 

Undoubtedly,  the  death  rate  is  accelerated  by  intemperance 
in  this  and  all  other  countries.  We  are  already  called  a  nation 
of  drunkards,  by  those  who  have  not  had  the  good  fortune  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  best  specimens  of  American  so- 
ciety. The  vice  of  intemperance  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  con- 
stitution of  so  many,  that  its  baneful  and  destroying  influence 
taints  the  blood  of  those  who  derive  their  being  from  such 
polluted  sources. 

*  Huger,  a  colored  woman,  recently  died  near  Alexandria,  Ky.,  at  the  age 
of  122.  She  was  born  in  Virginia,  March  21, 1751.  She  had  been  blind 
twenty  years.  Her  memory  was  good.  She  was  presumed  to  be  the  oldest 
person  in  the  United  States. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  471 

Neither  legislation,  moral  suasion,  nor  temperance  reformers  • 
have  gained  much  success  in  their  efforts  to  stay  the  progress  of 
that  dreadful  vice.  There  are  temporary  lulls  and  loud  expres- 
sions of  enthusiasm  when  some  newly-devised  schemes  for  re- 
form are  proposed.  Alas !  neither  the  beauties  of  sobriety,  nor 
the  horrors  of  a  prison  make  any  lasting  impression  on  the  case- 
hardened  brains  of  inebriates.  Their  morbid  thirst  is  a  disease 
beyond  the  resources  of  medicine,  in  its  present  imperfect 
state. 

There  are  persons  so  organized,  they  crave  unusual  excite- 
ment. Their  temperaments  cannot  be  kept  in  equilibrium  with 
cold  water.  They  will  hazard  reputation,  and  even  life,  for  in- 
dulgence. The  sober-minded  are  taxed  for  the  support  of  va- 
gabonds and  criminals,  who  were  made  such  by  intemperance. 

There  is  one  untried  remedy.  When  mild  wines  are  cheaper 
than  beer,  ale,  whiskey,  and  brain-crazing  cordials,  those  who 
look  upon  wine  as  a  luxury  beyond  their  reach  will  prefer  it. 
Then  intemperance  will  be  less  frequent,  and  a  new  condition 
of  society  may  be  anticipated,  most  gratifying  to  philanthro- 
pists, to  Christian  laborers,  in  the  midst  of  wide-spread  vice 
and  dissipation,  but  not  before. 

"Wine  can  be  made  in  sufficient  quantities  to  root  out  the 
undermining  destruction  of  distilleries.  California,  alone,  has 
more  than  sufficient  for  the  remedy — but  it  must  be  cheaper. 

Give  those  who  are  maddened  by  strong  potations  some- 
thing superior  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  morbid  craving,  and 
in  fifty  years  the  public  sentiment  will  sustain  this  proposi- 
tion. 

Looking  to  an  extended  tenure  of  human  life,  by  conform- 
ing more  understandingly  to  the  laws  of  health,  which  are  be- 
ing better  understood  through  the  active  influence  of  the  press, 
and  when  women  rise  to  that  social  elevation  they  are  to  have, 


472  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

longevity  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  wonder,  as  it  has  been,  but 
a  natural  consequence  of  conforming  to  those  principles  which 
science  demonstrates  to  be  the  way  to  health  and  long  life.* 

*  The  last  census  presents  the  following  curious  facts  : 

The  total  population  of  the  country  is  about  38,250,000. 

Total  number  of  deaths  in  the  current  census  year,  492,263,  or  about  1,349 
per  diem. 

March  seeins  to  be  the  most  fatal  month,  leading  all  others  by  about  1,000. 
March,  April,  and  May  form  the  most  fatal  quarter,  exceeding  any  other 
three  consecutive  months  by  over  13,000. 

The  births  number  1,100,475,  or  about  3,000  per  diem. 

The  blind  number  about  20,000. 

The  deaf  and  dumb  about  16,000. 

The  idiotic  about  24,000. 

The  insane  about  37,000,  nearly  one-third  of  whom  are  of  foreign  birth. 

Persons  over  80  years  of  age  number  about  150,000. 

Persons  over  90  years  of  age  number  about  7,000. 

Persons  over  100  years  of  age  number  about  3,500. 

Of  those  over  90  years,  the  females  are  in  excess  by  about  1,200. 

Of  those  over  100  years,  the  females  exceed  the  males  by  about  1,000. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
THEIK  FUTUEE  iir  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

Women  Considered  in  Law — Political  Status — Mixed  Schools — Vulgar 
Men — The  Evidence  of  Low  Breeding — Schools  for  Separating  Girls  and 
Boys — Russian  Apprehension — Annual  Teapot  Tempests — School  Im- 
provements— Political  Equality  of  the  Sexes. 

IN  every  period  of  human  history,  women  have  been  con- 
sidered inferior  to  men.  All  laws  for  the  regulation  of  society 
have  invariably  been  so  framed  as  to  perpetuate  the  absurd  idea, 
that  they  have  neither  capacity  nor  a  right  to  participate  in 
concerns  of  common  interest,  which  tradition,  custom,  and  the 
Eovereign  power  exclusively  confide  to  male  members  of  the 
community. 

Among  savages  and  barbarians,  where  that  theory  must  have 
originated,  females  are  estimated  as  necessary  appendages,  but 
not  equals.  Before  the  spread  of  Christianity  their  condition, 
even  under  the  most  favorable  aspect,  was  that  of  slavery.  All 
that  has  been  accomplished  for  their  elevation,  and  protection 
in  the  enjoyment  of  privileges, — such  as  they  are,  even  in  the 
most  enlightened  states  of  Europe  and  the  United  States, — is 
due  to  the  influence  of  Christianity. 

Women  will  rise  higher,  and  be  sustained  in  their  claims  to 
an  equal  share  of  whatever  contributes  most  to  the  security, 
happiness,  and  progress  in  the  world,  in  proportion  to  the  heed 
given  to  those  divine  truths  which  were  revealed  and  inculcated 
by  our  Lord  and  Saviour. 

There  have  been  fortunate  individuals  among  women  in  all 
ages.  Some  were  born  to  renown.  Very  few  of  them  have 


474:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

reached  political  distinction  by  the  mere  exercise  of  superior 
skill  or  intelligence,— and  simply  because  barriers  were  inter- 
posed between  them  and  the  objects  of  their  ambition  by  the  craf- 
tiness of  men.  When  they  have  held  the  reins  of  government 
by  hereditary  claims  that  could  not  be  set  aside,  they  have  in- 
variably exhibited  qualities  that  incontestably  proved  they  were 
not  inferior  to  kings. 

Notwithstanding  the  Queen  can  do  no  wrong  under  the 
Constitution  of  Great  Britain,— the  laws  of  England  take  cog- 
nizance of  a  fearful  array  of  illegal  acts  which  her  female  sub- 
jects may  commit,  and  are  punished  for,  without  troubling  men 
of  low  degree,  who  are  guilty  of  betraying  them  and  destroying 
their  prospects  and  happiness. 

A  husband  may  cruelly  abuse  his  own  wife,  bone  of  his 
bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,  and  yet  she  has  no  redress,  or  next 
to  none,  in  one  of  the  most  enlightened  countries  on  the  globe. 
How  much  better  is  it  here  ? 

What  does  it  amount  to  towards  securing  better  treat- 
ment, by  putting  an  infamous,  drunken  husband  under  bonds 
in  the  sum  of  seventy-five  cents,  to  keep  the  peace,  who  re- 
turns home  from  the  police  office  and  breaks  his  wife's  ribs 
in  revenge  for  having  his  conduct  exposed  in  court  ? 

A  woman  is  by  law  held  to  be  inferior  to  a  man  in  this 
blessed  American  Union.  While  single,  she  is  manager  of  her 
own  property ;  but  the  moment  of  entering  upon  the  holy  state 
of  matrimony,  her  individuality  is  lost.  She  is  then  Mrs.  No- 
body in  all  legal  transactions. 

As  a  spinster,  she  is  compelled  to  pay  taxes,  can  be  assessed 
for  public  expenditures  which  do  not  meet  her  approbation,  but 
she  is  not  allowed  to  vote  for  officers  placed  in  authority  over 
her,  nor  is  she  elegible  to  any  place  or  position  of  honor  or 
trust  under  the  law. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  475 

As  a  married  woman,  she  loses  the  privilege  she  had  before 
of  deeding  away  land,  making  a  will,  of  doing  anything,  in 
short,  which  her  lord  and  master  forbids.  On  becoming  a 
widow,  she  regains  her  suspended  privileges,  and  then  buys, 
sells,  and  bequeathes  her  estate  to  whom  she  chooses. 

Women,  certainly,  have  legal  rights  here,  as  wives,  but 
they  are  very  much  mixed  and  obscured  by  lawmakers,  who 
thus  far  have  contrived  to  keep  the  balance  of  power  in  their 
own  hands. 

In  Turkey,  a  wife  is  property.  If  she  does  wrong,  the 
husband,  as  proprietor,  is  notified,  he  being  accountable  for  her 
acts.  There  are  no  tedious  investigations  into  the  particulars  of 
the  wrong-doing  of  which  she  is  accused.  If,  in  his  estimation, 
punishment  should  be  inflicted,  he  is  both  jury,  judge,  and 
executive  officer.  The  public  sympathy  is  never  excited  when 
a  member  of  the  harem  disappears,  if  the  fact  is  noised  abroad, 
because  it  is  nothing  that  concerns  the  public.  A  Turkish 
gentleman  may  sink  a  woman  once  a  week  in  the  Bosphorus, 
without  disturbing  the  placidity  of  her  acquaintances  or  his 
own. 

Women  are  worse  treated  where  the  standard  of  moral  ac- 
countability claims  to  be  far  above  that  of  the  Koran.  Turks 
are  careful  of  their  property.  They  neither  beat,  bruise,  nor 
maim  their  wives.  They  put  them  to  death  when  the  law  re- 
quires them  to  protect  the  community  against  a  repetition  of  a 
crime  of  which  his  property, — his  woman,  is  guilty.  That  is 
government  economy,  and  saves  the  expense  of  a  public 
execution. 

POLITICAL  STATUS. 

We  believe  a  woman  is  man's  equal,  and  entitled  to  all 
privileges  and  immunities  accorded  to  men  by  laws  made  for 


476  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

monopolizing  what  by  nature  and  the  eternal,  unchangeable 
principles  of  justice,  belongs  to  her,  in  making  fast  their  own. 

That  doctrine  is  gaining  ground  rapidly.  Until  their  rights 
are  restored,  of  which  they  have  for  fifty  centuries  been  de- 
prived, civilization  cannot  be  thorough  and  complete.  The 
millennium  will  commence  when  that  great  day  of  doing  as 
we  would  be  done  by  is  ushered  in,  by  acknowledging  that 
women  are  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness accorded  to  men,  whether  they  have  brain,  capacity,  moral 
integrity,  or  not. 

Under  no  ancient  or  modern  form  of  government  have 
they  ever  had  accorded  to  them  the  privileges  to  which  they 
are  entitled.  They  are  of  as  much  importance  as  men.  They 
were  created  for  one  another,  and  must  associate.  Being 
equals  by  nature,  women  should  share  equally  and  equitably 
with  men  in  all  things.  It  is  only'  in  a  republic  that  a  pro- 
spect of  restoring  to  them  that  which  has  been  taken,  can  be  ex- 
pected. It  is  rank  hypocrisy  to  boast  of  republican  equality 
when  one  half  the  population  is  exercising  all  the  power,  not 
even  permitting  the  voice  of  the  injured  party  to  be  heard, 
when  the  plea  is  simply  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution, 
that  taxation  and  representation  shall  go  together. 

We  are  examining  a  fundamental  principle,  not  because  it 
would  be  a  gratification  to  see  half  the  members  of  the  House 
and  Senate  at  Washington  old  ladies,  alternately  taking  part  in 
debates  on  great  national  questions,  and  then  taking  snuff. 
There  are  not  many  women  qualified  for  those  arm-chairs  in 
Congress ;  and  if  there  were,  but  few  would  consent  to  be 
associated  with  such  rude,  boisterous,  uncouth  specimens  of  un- 
polished humanity  as  are  seen  there,  singularly  contrasting  with 
gentlemen  of  talents,  learning,  and  polished  manners,  who  can 
rarely  be  elected. 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  477 

Women  can  have  equal  rights  with  men,  without  supposing 
that  every  one  of  them  will  corrupt  voters  to  get  themselves 
elected  a  judge,  a  member  of  the  City  Council,  or  chief  of 
police.  Their  characteristic  honesty  and  good  sense  forbids  the 
idea,  that  they  would  stoop  so  low  as  to  accept  places  notorious 
for  the  corruptions  of  those  usually  occupying  them  in  these 
degenerate  days  of  political  integrity. 

MIXED  SCHOOLS. 

Common  schools,  those  elementary,  free  institutions  which 
are  the  pride  of  the  people,  the  nurseries  of  the  national  mind, 
fountains  from  whence  flows  a  current  which  both  develops 
and  fertilizes  every  order  of  intellect,  must  be  sustained,  if  our 
liberties  are  to  be  preserved. 

Throughout  the  interior  of  the  country,  common-school 
pupils  are  of  both  sexes.  Boys  and  girls  meet  on  a  common 
level,  pursue  the  same  studies,  and  stand  in  classes  together. 
Such  are  called  mixed  schools,  and  they  are  always  the  best, 
distinguished  for  the  progress  of  the  scholars,  and  the  care  with 
which  they  are  governed. 

Boys  by  themselves,  or  girls  in  schools  exclusively  for 
them,  are  neither  so  successful  in  study  or  discipline,  as  when 
they  are  associated  in  their  educational  pursuits.  Mixed 
schools  exert  a  happy  influence  on  the  sexes  thus  brought  into 
relations  which  refine  their  manners,  improve  their  deport- 
ment, and  lay  the  foundation  for  that  courtesy,  politeness, 
and  civility,  which  gentlemen,  with  the  slightest  preten- 
sions to  good  breeding,  always  manifest  in  the  presence  of 
ladies. 

When  a  man  walks  the  whole  length  of  a  church  without 
removing  his  hat  till  he  enters  the  pew,  it  is  quite  certain  such 


478  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

vulgarity  is  in  consequence  of  never  having  had  the  civilizing 
eyes  of  girls  in  a  school-room  on  him,  or  a  sister  or  mother  to 
explain  to  him  that  such  contempt  for  the  usages  of  society  re- 
dound to  his  injury.  If  another  strolls  through  a  parlor,  in  the 
presence  of  ladies,  with  his  hat  on,  assuming  an  air  of  inde- 
pendent nonchalance^  it  is  another  ordinary  phase  of  vulgarity 
common  with  men  who  had  no  early  advantages  of  female 
society. 

Those  coarse,  foul-mouthed  specimens  of  ignorance  and 
presumption,  observable  in  men  who  pretend  to  consider 
women  their  inferiors,  simply  because  they  are  not  in  panta- 
loons, are  to  be  commiserated  for  having  had  no  advantages 
accruing  from  female  society  in  their  early  years,  when  impres- 
sions would  have  been  lasting. 

They  are  the  men  who  have  disagreeable  wives,  deserving 
no  others.  Without  circumlocution,  it  may  be  assumed  as  true, 
that,  by  associating  while  young,  boys  and  girls  improve  and 
polish  one  another.  In  large  families  of  brothers  and  sisters, 
they  are  usually  far  in  advance  of  those  only  sons,  or  only 
daughters,  who  are  more  remarkable  for  extreme  selfishness 
than  kindness,  suavity,  and  consideration  for  others  not  of  their 
kith  or  kin. 

Unfortunately,  the  plan  of  separate  schools  is  prevailing. 
It  is  a  mistake.  The  old  system  is  the  best,  and  the  children 
educated  in  mixed  schools  will  have  the  best  culture  and  the 
best  morals. 

This  view  is  beginning  to  be  entertained  in  the  higher 
seminaries  and  universities.  Young  ladies  now  enter  colleges. 
The  idea  of  educating  a  woman  as  men  are  educated,  would 
have  been  ridiculed  once  as  preposterous.  One  serious  objec- 
tion to  permitting  them  to  enter,  was  the  shocking  demoraliza- 
tion and  scandal  that  would  follow,  from  allowing  pretty  girls 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  479 

and  sophomores  to  meet  in  the  same  recitation-room  together, 
attend  the  usual  exercises  under  professorial  instruction,  and 
then  graduate  bachelors, — since  no  charter  provides  for  a  degree 
not  conveying  to  the  possessor  distinctions  belonging  to  the 
masculine  gender. 

All  those  antiquated  objections  have  been  overturned  by 
the  good  sense  and  intelligence  of  a  new  generation,  immeasur- 
ably in  advance  of  the  buckram  of  fifty  years  ago.  But  there 
they  are,  model  students,  above  reproach,  and  bright  examples 
of  what  a  woman  may  attain  to  in  the  loftiest  regions  of  litera- 
ture and  technical  science.  So  far  from  exerting,  by  their 
presence,  a  bad  influence  on  frivolous  undergraduates,  de- 
corum is  insured  where  formerly  there  were  boisterous 
displays,  and  industry,  where  there  was  formerly  inattention 
and  idleness.  Young  college  ladies  are  a  blessing,  because 
order,  civility,  and  politeness  are  in  the  ascendant  when  they 
appear. 

We  feel  much  pleased  to  express,  here,  our  public  recogni- 
tion of  their  utility  at  college  in  arresting  the  waves  of  pro- 
fanity, cant  expressions,  and  innuendoes  that  become  epidemic 
where  young  men  are  exclusively  by  themselves,  however  well 
reared  at  home.  Those  indolent  youngsters  who  used  to 
graduate  blockheads,  will  diminish  in  number  by  the  admis- 
sion of  female  classmates.  They  would  be  stimulated  to  far 
greater  effort,  rather  than  be  eclipsed  by  their  accomplished, 
fascinating  inferiors,  as  women  were  formerly  considered. 
With  all  the  outcry  against  the  claims  of  women  to  political 
equality,  and  the  spirited  determination  of  the  strong-minded 
representatives  of  the  feminine  order  for  a  clear  way  to  the 
polls,  there  is  not  the  slightest  danger  from  granting  them  all 
they  ask.  Not  one  in  a  thousand  would  exhibit  the  slightest 
ambition  for  positions  they  were  not  abundantly  qualified 


480  THE  WAYS    OF  WOMEN. 

for    sustaining   creditably  to  themselves   and  the  honor   of 
their  constituents.* 

Russia  is  a  despotism.  Any  aspirations  there  for  privileges 
corresponding  with  the  developing  intelligence  of  those  female 
students,  seem  to  have  alarmed  the  watch-dogs  of  the  govern- 
ment. It  is  not  at  all  probable  they  conducted  themselves  improp- 
erly, or  abused  their  educational  privileges  in  the  slightest  degree. 
If  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  is  excited  by  apprehensions 
from  the  chatty  hilarity  of  a  few  pretty  misses  at  recess,  one 
such  anniversary  meeting  of  antiquated  spinsters  in  green  t 
spectacles,  wigs,  and  bloomers,  as  proclaim  their  solemn  resolu- 
tion to  lose  the  horse  or  win  the  saddle  in  'New  York  and 
Boston,  would  shake  that  frozen  empire  from  its  centre  to  its 
circumference.  But  here,  where  we  are  used  to  annual 
explosions  of  threatened  destruction  from  wind-bags,  they  only 
create  merriment.  The  people  laugh,  the  Administration 
laughs,  the  reformers  laugh,  also,  and  then  the  tempest  in  the 
teapot,  concocted  by  a  few  dozens  of  old  maids  to  allay  their 
nervousness,  subsides,  to  reappear  the  following  season,  as 
hybernating  animals  awake  from  a  winter  slumber. 


*  The  Russian  Government  has  just  made  a  remarkable  announcement  in 
its  official  organs  relative  to  the  Russian  women-students  in  the  University 
of  Zurich.  During  the  last  two  years,  says  this  document,  the  number  of 
young  Russian  women  who  study  at  Zurich  has  rapidly  increased;  there  are 
now  more  than  a  hundred  in  the  University  and  Polytechnic  School  in  that 
town.  It  appears  that  recent  developments  indicate  that  these  women- 
students  are  politicians,  revolutionists,  radicals,  and  inclined  to  free-love,  be 
coming  by  reason  of  these  things  dangerous  alike  to  society,  morals,  and  the 
government.  The  royal  announcement,  after  reciting  many  of  these  facts, 
concludes  thus  :  "  In  order  to  put  an  end  to  this  abnormal  state  of  things,  it 
is  hereby  announced  to  all  the  Russian  women  who  attend  the  lectures  at  the 
University  and  the  Polytechnic  School  of  Zurich,  that  such  of  them  as  shall 
continue  to  attend  the  above  lectures  after  the  first  of  January,  1874,  will  not 
be  admitted  on  their  return  to  Russia  to  any  examination,  educational  estab- 
lishment, or  appointment  of  any  kind  under  the  control  of  the  government." 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  481 

Young  women  have  gained  admission  to  medical  colleges 
and  hospitals,  both  here  and  in  all  the  principal  institutions  of 
that  kind  in  Europe.  There  was  a  prodigious  outcry  against 
such  impropriety  at  first.  Doors  were  closed  against  them  by 
the  faculty.  But  the  public  sentiment  was  stronger  than  the 
obstinacy  of  fossilized  professors,  and  the  law  compelled  objec- 
tors to  give  way  to  the  progress  of  useful  knowledge,  to 
unbar  the  gates  and  let  them  enter,  sit  and  learn. 

Next,  as  old  cocks  crow  the  young  ones  learn,  says  an  an- 
cient proverb.  Half-fledged  medical  students  pretended  they 
felt  themselves  insulted  by  the  presence  of  young  female 
students,  whose  purity  of  character,  ladylike  deportment,  and 
superior  culture  were  a  reproach  to  their  own  unconcealed 
coarseness,  rudeness,  and  vulgarity.  Time  soon  corrected  their 
impressions  of  the  deteriorating  effects  of  the  quiet  attention  of 
feminine  intruders,  as  they  saw,  to  their  extreme  mortification, 
that  the  despised  new-comers  entirely  outstripped  them  over  the 
course, — won  distinguished  honors,  and  left  those  self-righteous, 
complacent  donkies  in  the  rear. 

Precisely  the  same  conflict,  to  some  extent,  has  occurred 
here.  Both  colleges  and  medical  schools  have  fought  bravely 
in  a  bad  cause,  to  prevent  women  from  participating  in  educa- 
tional advantages  which  have  been  too  long  exclusively  con- 
sidered the  birthright  of  men.  The  result  has  been  to 
bring  into  existence  medical  colleges  for  women,  and 
more  are  required.  With  constantly  increasing  numbers 
of  students,  the  demand  for  their  professional  services  the  mo- 
ment they  are  qualified,  is  opening  the  eyes  of  the  exclusives. 
Quite  too  late  for  retrieving  lost  opportunities,  with  a  certain 
prospect  of  being  outnumbered  in  attendants,  before  many 
seasons  have  passed,  they  are  now  relaxing, — unbolting  here 
and  there  a  door.  Colleges  are  all  discussing  the  policy  of 


482  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

submitting  to  what  is  inevitable, — the  admission  of  female 
pupils.  Medical  schools  are  losing  what  they  might  have 
secured, — the  honor  of  educating  women  to  assume  higher  and 
nobler  positions  to  which  they  are  called  by  the  voice  of  the 
people. 

• 

SCHOOL  IMPROVEMENTS  SUGGESTED. 

As  no  two  persons  precisely  resemble  each  other  in  expres- 
sion, so  they  differ  in  their  mental  capacities.  That  school  for 
girls  will  be  best  which  recognizes  this  fact  by  providing  liberally, 
as  circumstances  will  allow,  for  developing  and  directing  the 
predominant  faculty  of  the  pupil. 

Heading,  writing,  grammar,  geography,  elementary  arith- 
metic, with  some  few  studies  besides,  comprises  a  common 
school  education.  In  cities,  where  resources  are  greater  than 
in  the  country,  singing  is  taught ;  sewing,  and,  indeed,  other 
branches  may  be  taught,  supposed  to  be  most  necessary  for 
qualifying  pupils  for  duties  that  may  devolve  upon  them  in 
adult  years. 

Some  children,  with  slight  instruction,  would  excel  in 
drawling,  others  in  modelling,  their  organs  of  imitation  being 
exceedingly  active, — craving  indulgence.  Instrumental  music, 
too,  should  be  systematically  taught.  There  are  hundreds  of 
girls  in  public  schools  whose  genius  remains  buried  forever,  just 
because  no  proper  stimulus  to  development  was  ever  presented. 
Musical  instruments  freely  distributed  among  those  who  have 
a  taste  for  music,  accompanied  by  daily  instruction  from  a  com- 
petent teacher,  would  bring  to  light  many  to  become  distin- 
guished performers.  It  would  qualify  poor  girls  to  rise  socially, 
to  earn  more  with  less  hard  labor,  than  would  otherwise  be  their 
lot.  Every  faculty  God  has  blessed  them  with,  should  be  cul- 
tivated. That  is  what  common  schools  ought  to  do.  When 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

the  rich  are  distributing  wealth  they  cannot  carry  away  to  a 
world  to  which  they  are  hastening,  rather  than  give  to  institu- 
tions burdened  with  funds,  why  not  direct  a  thousand  orders  for 
pianos,  harps,  accordeons,  music  books,  violins,  guitars,  etc.,  to 
district  or  other  common  schools,  with  an  express  condition 
they  are  for  the  use  of  poor  female  scholars,  to  qualify  them 
to  become  instructors  ?  That  would  be  a  true  specimen  of 
Christian  benevolence. 

Unfortunately  for  the  world,  brilliant  talents  which  the 
possessors  were  unconscious  of  possessing,  often  remain  unde- 
veloped through  life,  simply  because  no  opportunity  for  their 
exercise  was  within  reach  of  the  individual. 

No  calculations  can  be  made  of  the  amount  of  buried  genius 
that  might  have  been  roused  into  activity  with  proper  appliances 
in  early  school-days,  with  systematic  assistance  for  bringing  it 
out.  It  is  a  -duty  to  assist,  to  the  extent  of  our  means,  in  the 
cultivation  of  all  the  powers  with  which  girls  and  boys  are 
blessed.  Without  aid,  scores  struggle  on,  displaying  extra- 
ordinary natural  gifts  that  cannot  be  utilized,  because  imper- 
fectly educated.  They  know  too  much  of  what  is  unavailable, 
and  not  enough  in  perfection  to  be  instructors  in  branches  for 
which  they  have  a  strong  natural  bias. 

Singing  is  occasionally  taught  in  a  few  schools  which  are  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  under  the  care  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  who 
appreciate  the  importance  of  having  all  such  branches  taught 
as  may  be  turned  to  a  practical  purpose.  Some  admirable 
vocal  performers  have  had  their  musical  talents  discovered  in 
those  exercises,  who  are  now  receiving  large  salaries  in  church 
choirs. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  a  large  majority  of  all  the 
children  in  all  the  States  never  have  access  to  other  educa- 
tional institutions.  Therefore  let  them  have  all  the  attention 


484:  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

in  common  schools  that  their  claims  entitle  them  to  as  public 
beneficiaries.  While  taking  lessons  in  reading,  writing,  gram- 
mar, arithmetic,  etc.,  as  an  agreeable  recreation,  they  could  be 
taught  to  play  musical  instruments,  and  a  conversational  famili- 
arity with  some  language  besides  their  own.  Severe  study, 
long,  tedious  recitations,  committing  to  memory  what  they 
cannot  comprehend,  is  not  contemplated  in  this  scheme  for  im- 
provement in  mixed  schools.  On  the  contrary,  let  them  as 
children  learn  language  by  the  ear,  not  by  grammatical  drillings. 
Music  must  not  be  taught  in  that  way,  because  they  could  not 
read  notes  if  they  were  not  carefully  taught  the  value  of  each 
character  representing  a  sound. 

POLITICAL  EQUALITY  OF  THE  SEXES. 

From  a  close  examination  of  the  great  question  of  the  day, 
whether  women  ought  to  enjoy  the  political  rights  and  privi- 
leges which  men  exercise,  we  have  arrived  at  a  conclusion  they 
are  quite  as  capable  as  men. 

Four  millions  of  colored  people  were  emancipated  from 
slavery,  and  all  the  males  above  twenty-one  years  of  age  became 
voters  instanter.  Now,  would  there  be  more  risk  in  granting 
the  same  political  privilege  to  intelligent,  cultivated  women  ? 

Emigrants  from  foreign  countries,  utterly  ignorant  of  our  lan- 
guage, and  certainly  so  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  in  a  few  months  after  their  arrival  become  freemen, 
voting,  and  may  be  voted  for ;  and  yet  one-half  of  the  native 
population,  whose  patriotism,  interest,  property,  and  prayers 
for  the  land  of  their  birth  cannot  be  questioned,  are  resolutely 
kept  under  control  by  the  law,  as  not  being  as  worthy  to  be 
intrusted  with  the  franchise  as  ignorant  foreigners,  half-breed 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

Indians,  and  negroes  who  can  neither  read,  write,  or  know  the 
letters.of  the  alphabet. 

Wherever  the  sexes  mingle,  in  the  family,  primary,  common 
schools,  at  college,  medical  institutions,  and  in  society,  there  is 
most  refinement,  courtesy,  and  intelligence.  One  more  ascend- 
ing step  would  place  women  where  they  would  have  political 
equality,  or  civilization  and  the  genius  of  Christianity  cannot 
progress. 

If  a  concession  is  to  be  made  to  them  anywhere,  if  men  are 
ever  honest  enough  to  acknowledge  the  claims  of  women  to 
equal  rights  in  the  pursuit  of  life,  liberty,  and  happiness,  the 
crowning  event  and  the  glorious  triumph  will  take  place  in  a 
republic :  and  God  grant  that  the  honor  may  belong  to  the 
United  States  of  America  ! 

The  late  John  Stuart  Mill,  who  dared  to  speak  in  favor  of 
the  elevation  of  women  to  higher  responsibilities  than  the 
jealousy  of  men  in  the  old  world  are  disposed  to  permit,  thus 
reasons : — 

"  That  every  step  in  improvement  has  been  so  invariably 
accompanied  by  a  step  made  in  raising  the  social  position  of 
women,  that  historians  and  philosophers  have  been  led  to  adopt 
their  elevation  pr  debasement  as,  on  the  whole,  the  surest  test 
and  most  correct  measure  of  the  civilization  of  a  people  or  an 
age.  Through  all  the  progressive  period  of  human  history,  the 
condition  of  women  has  been  approaching  nearer  to  equality 
with  men. 

"  The  profoundest  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  formation 
of  character  is  indispensable  to  entitle  any  one  to  affirm  even 
that  there  is  any  difference,  much  more  what  the  difference  is, 
between  the  two  sexes,  considered  as  moral  and  rational  beings, 
and  since  no  one  as  yet  has  that  knowledge  (for  there  is  hardly 
any  subject  which,  in  proportion  to  its  importance,  has  been  so 


486  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

little  studied),  no  one  is  thus  far  entitled  to  any  positive  opinion 
on  the  subject. 

"  The  wife  is  the  actual  bond-servant  of  the  husband,  no 
less  so,  as  far  as  legal  obligation  goes,  than  slaves  commonly  so- 
called.  She  vows  a  life-long  obedience  to  him  at  the  altar,  and 
is  held  to  it  all  through  life  by  law.  Casuists  may  say  that  the 
obligation  of  obedience  stops  short  of  participation  in  crime,  but 
it  certainly  extends  to  everything  else.  She  can  do  no  act  what- 
ever but  by  his  permission — at  least,  tacit.  She  can  acquire 
no  property  but  for  him ;  the  instant  it  becomes  hers,  even  if  by 
inheritance,  it  becomes  ipso  facto  his.  In  this  respect  the 
wife's  position,  under  the  Common  Law  of  England,  is  worse 
than  that  of  slaves  in  many  countries.  By  the  Roman  law,  for 
example,  a  slave  might  have  his  peculium,  which,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  law  guaranteed  to  him  for  his  exclusive  use.  The 
higher  classes  in  this  country  have  given  an  analogous  advantage 
to  their  women  through  special  contracts  setting  aside  the  law, 
by  conditions  of  pin-money,  etc.,  since,  parental  feelings  being 
stronger  than  the  class  feelings  of  their  own  sex,  a  father  gene- 
rally prefers  his  own  daughter  to  a  son-in-law,  who  is  a  stranger 
to  him.  By  means  of  settlements,  the  rich  usually  contrive  to 
withdraw  the  whole  or  part  of  the  inherited  property  of  the 
wife  from  the  absolute  control  of  the  husband,  but  they  do  not 
succeed  in  keeping  it  under  her  own  control ;  the  utmost  they 
can  do  only  prevents  the  husband  from  squandering  it,  at  the 
same  time  debarring  the  rightful  owner  from  its  use.  The 
property  is  out  of  the  reach  of  both,  and  as  to  the  income  de- 
rived from  it,  the  form  of  settlement  most  favorable  to  the  wife 
(that  called  '  to  her  separate  use ')  only  precludes  the  husband 
from  receiving '  it  instead  of  her.  It  must  pass  through  her 
hands  ;  but  if  he  takes  it  from  her  by  personal  violence  as  soon 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  487 

as  she  receives  it,  he  can  neither  be  punished  nor  compelled  to 
restitution." 

Enlightened  England !  Such  .  is  the  law.  Is  it,  on  the 
whole,  a  whit  better  among  our  enlightened  selves  ? 

In  the  Westminster  Review  occurs  the  following  mortify- 
ing acknowledgment  of  injustice  towards  women.  It  is  true 
enough  to  make  the  ears  of  legislators  tingle  : — 

"  This  is  the  wife's  status  with  respect  to  her  individual  in- 
terest, and  her  status  in  regard  to  her  children  is  of  a  piece 
with  it.  They  are  called  in  law  the  husband's  children,  and  he 
alone  has  legal  right  over  them.  The  wife  can  do  nothing  in 
relation  to  them,  except  by  delegation  from  him,  and,  even  af- 
ter his  death,  she  does  not  become  their  guardian  unless  she 
has  been  appointed  so  by  him. 

"  The  natural  sequence  and  corollary  from  the  state  of  things 
here  described  would  be,  that  since  a  woman's  whole  comfort 
and  happiness  in  life  £  depend  on.  her  finding  a  good  master, 
she  should  be  allowed  to  change,  again  and  again,  until  she 
finds  one.' ': 

Here  is  the  opinion  of  another  English  thinker,  who  fully 
comprehends  a  problem  that  political  demagogues  neither  wish 
to  study  or  understand : — 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  speaking  of  the  rights  of  women, 
says : — "  Three  positions  only  are  open  to  us.  It  may  be  said 
that  women  have  no  rights  at  all ;  that  their  rights  are  not  so 
great  as  those  of  men ;  or  that  they  are  equal,  to  those  of  men. 

"  Whoever  maintains  the  first  of  those  dogmas,  that  women 
have  no  rights  at  all,  must  show  that  the  Creator  intended  wo- 
men to  be  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  men — their  happiness,  their 
their  liberties,  their  lives,  at  men's  disposal ;  or,  in  other  words, 
that  they  were  meant  to  be  treated  as  creatures  of  an  inferior 
order.  Few  will  have  the  hardihood  to  assert  this. 


488  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

"  From  the  second  proposition,  that  the  rights  of  women  are 
not  so  great  as  those  of  men,  there  immediately  arise  such 
queries  as :  If  they  are  not  so  great,  by  how  much  are  they 
less  ?  What  is  the  exact  ratio  between  the  legitimate  claims  of 
the  two  sexes  ?  How  shall  we  tell  which  rights  are  common  to 
both,  and  where  those  of  the  male  exceed  those  of  the  female  ? 
Who  can  show  us  a  scale  that  will  serve  for  the  apportionment  ? 
Or,  putting  the  question  practically,  it  is  required  to  determine, 
by  some  logical  method,  whether  the  Turk  is  justified  in  plung- 
ing an  offending  Circassian  into  the  Bosphorus?  Whether 
the  rights  of  women  were  violated  by  the  Athenian  law,  which 
allowed  a  citizen,  under  certain  circumstances,  to  sell  his 
daughter  or  sister  ?  Whether  our  own  statute,  which  permits  a 
man  to  beat  his  wife  in  moderation,  and  to  imprison  her  in  any 
room  in  his  house,  is  morally  defensible  ?  Whether  it  is  equit- 
able that  a  married  woman  should  be  incapable  of  holding  pro- 
perty? Whether  a  husband  niay  justly  take  possession  of  his 
wife's  earnings  against  her  will,  as  our  law  allows  him  to  do  ? 
— and  so  forth.  These,  and  a  multitude  of  similar  problems, 
present  themselves  for  solution. 

"  In  this  connection  it  is  also  curious  to  contemplate  that  the 
only  things  which  women  are  ordinarily  excluded  from  doing, 
are  just  those  things  wThich  they  have  proved  themselves  best 
able  to  do.  There  is  no  law  or  custom  in  force  to  prevent  a 
woman  from  writing  plays  like  Shakespeare,  or  operas  like 
Mozart,  but  there  are  laws  and  customs  to  prevent  them  from 
embracing  a  military  or  political  career,  and  Joan  of  Arc  and 
Queen  Elizabeth  are  historical  characters." 

Profoundly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  manfully  aid- 
ing and  assisting  in  the  great  revolution  that  is  to  be  ultimately 
achieved,  we  offer  no  apology  for  strengthening  our  position 
from  any  available  source.  Another  transatlantic  view  of  the 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  489 

women-question,  as  it  is  called,  here  introduced,  is  too  sound 
and  logical  not  to  gain  the  approval  of  reasonable  men  : 

"  Whoso  urges  the  mental  inferiority  of  women,  in  bar  to 
their  claim  to  equal  rights  with  men,  may  be  met  in  various 
ways.  In  the  first  place,  the  alleged  fact  may  be  disputed.  A 
defender  of  her  sex  might  name  many  whose  achievements  in 
government,  in  science,  in  literature,  and  in  art,  have  obtained 
no  smftll  share  of  renown.  Powerful  and  sagacious  queens  the 
world  has  seen  in  plenty,  from  Zenobia  down  to  the  Empresses 
Catherine  and  Maria  Theresa.  In  the  exact  sciences,  Mrs. 
Somerville,  Miss  Herschel,  and  Miss  Zornlin  have  gained  ap- 
plause ;  in  political  economy,  Miss  Marlineau  ;  in  general  philo- 
sophy,  Madame  de  Stael ;  in  politics,  Madame  Roland.  Poetry 
has  its  Tiglies,  its  Hemanses,  its  Landons,  its  Brownings ;  the 
drama,  its  Joanna  Baillies ;  and  fiction,  its  Austens,  Bremers, 
Gores,  Dude  van  ts,  etc.,  without  end.  In  sculpture,  fame  has 
been  acquired  by  a  princess ;  a  picture  like  '  The  Momentous 
Question  '  is  tolerable  proof  of  female  capacity  for  painting ; 
and,  011  the  stage,  it  is  certain  that  women  are  on  a  level  with 
men,  if  they  do  not  even  bear  away  the  palm.  Joining  to  such 
facts  the  important  consideration,  that  women  have  always  been, 
and  are  still,  placed  at  a  disadvantage  in  every  department  of 
learning,  thought,  or  skill — seeing  that  they  are  not  admissible 
to  the  academies  and  universities  in  which  men  get  their  train- 
ing ;  that  the  kind  of  life  they  have  to  look  forward  to  does  not 
present  so  great  a  range  of  ambitions ;  that  they  are  rarely  ex- 
posed to  that  most  powerful  of  all  stimulants — necessity ;  that 
the  education  custom  dictates  for  them  is  one  that  leaves  un- 
cultivated many  of  the  higher  faculties  ;  and  that  the  prejudice 
against  blue-stockings,  hitherto  so  prevalent  amongst  men,  has 
greatly  tended  to  deter  women  from  the  pursuit  of  literary 
honors  :  adding  these  considerations  to  the  above  facts,  we  shall 


490  THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN. 

see  good  reason  for  thinking  that  the  alleged  inferiority  of  the 
femine  mind  is  by  no  means  self-evident. 

"  If  we  contrast  the  literary  and  artistic  works  of  women 
with  those  of  men  in  modern  days,  we  shall  find  that  their 
inferiority  resolves  itself  into  one,  but  still  a  most  material 
defect,  namely,  'a  deficiency  of  originality.'  They  do  not, 
indeed,  exhibit  a  total  want  of  it,  for  no  production  of  mind  of 
substantive  value  can  do  so ;  but  they  have  not  up  to  the  present 
been  marked  <  by  any  of  those  great  and  luminous  new  ideas 
which  form  an  era  in  thought,  nor  those  fundamentally  new 
conceptions  in  art,  which  open  a  vista  of  possible  effects  not 
before  thought  of,  and  found  a  new  school.'  Their  composi- 
tions are  mostly  based  on  the  existing  fund  of  thought,  and 
their  creations  do  not  deviate  widely  from  existing  types ;  but 
in  point  of  execution,  in  the  treatment  of  details,  and  in  per- 
fection of  style,  their  works  are  quite  on  a  par  with  those  of 
their  male  rivals. 

"  They  are  deprived  of  all  the  advantages,  and  most  of  the 
motives,  which  men  possess  for  acquiring  even  a  decent  amount 
of  systematic  education ;  and  if  we  turn  from  philosophy  and 
science  to  literature,  in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term,  there  are 
other  obvious  reasons  why  women's  productions  are,  in  general 
conception  and  in  their  leading  features,  more  or  less  imitations 
of  those  of  men." 

Finally,  the  signs  of  the  times  plainly  indicate  the  success 
of  importunate  petitioners  and  aspirants  for  equal  rights. 
Pioneers  and  public  agitators  in  the  cause  of  woman's  emanci- 
pation are  indomitable  and  irrepressible.  Concessions  are 
slowly  made  of  unimportant  places  to  their  management,  which 
have  been  singularly  well  sustained,  to  the  mortification  of 
those  who  are  fighting  windmills.  More  they  will  have. 

What !  if  a  few  women  should  be  sent  to  the  legislature,  or 


THE  WAYS  OF  WOMEN.  491 

to  Congress,  they  would  have  too  much  self-respect  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  any  rings  but  diamond  rings,  nor  would 
they  disgrace  themselves  by  entering  into  combinations  to 
defraud  the  Government,  foist  their  imbecile  relatives  into 
office,  or  vote  to  raise  their  own  pay  at  the  expense  of  the 
people  already  overburdened  by  excessive  taxation. 

When  women  vote,  respectable  men  will  be  elected  over 
rascals,  swindlers,  defaulters,  and  demoralized  politicians  who 
are  a  curse  to  the  country. 


THE    END. 


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